• Complete SPU release (pdf)     |     • MPSF Conference release (pdf)
     • VIDEO: Stephanie Wagner

SATURDAY, MARCH 23 –
Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Championships  
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash. / 6:00 p.m. PST
• Webcast -- http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/spu.portal#
• Live Scoring -- http://www.spufalcons.com/custompages/gym/2013/LiveStats.htm?path=gym
 
The Seattle Pacific gymnasts seek to continue a streak of impressive team scores when they host the 12th-annual Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Championships, Saturday, March 23. The four-team meet starts at 6 p.m. Pacific Time in Brougham Pavilion and will determine the team and individual conference champions. The Falcons will be joined by Alaska Anchorage and Air Force along with three-time defending MPSF champion UC Davis. The conference meet returns to Seattle for the first time since 2010, when the Falcons were team runners-up led by floor medalist Sherah Veron. In 2007, they parlayed the home gym advantage to a second straight MPSF title.
 
Ticket Talk
Tickets for the MPSF Championship Meet can be purchased at the Brougham Pavilion entrance (3307 3rd Ave. West, Seattle, WA 98119) on meet night. Tickets are priced at $8 for adults, $5 for children and senior citizens and $3 for SPU students.  
 


The Field
The four-team MPSF Championships start the postseason slate. SPU is the only NCAA Division II competitor in the field. The Falcons have a season-high score of 193.150 and are listed No. 58 in the overall NCAA rankings that are dominated by Division I schools. Joining SPU on Saturday will be defending MPSF champion UC Davis (No. 41, high score of 195.625), Air Force (No. 55, 194.700) and Alaska Anchorage (No. 62, 192.850). SPU was the MPSF runner-up three of the last four years after winning back-to-back conference crowns in 2006 and 2007. UC Davis won the last three MPSF titles.
 
About the MPSF
The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation was established in 1992 to serve the competitive needs of member institutions from the Big West, Pac-12, Mountain West and Western Athletic conferences along with other selected universities in the western United States; and to provide championship competition for intercollegiate Olympic sports in a conference setting. The MPSF was originally formed to provide enhanced competition and championship opportunities for sports without conference affiliation. Since its inception, MPSF teams have won 69 NCAA team championships.
 
Gym Shorts
SPU senior Stephanie Wagner was the silver medalist in the floor exercise (9.850) at last year's MPSF Championships in Davis, Calif. ... The Falcons compiled a season-high 193.150 in the last outing (Mar. 15), their highest team score since 2007 ... SPU surpassed 191 points in nine consecutive meets for the first time since the 2002 squad posted 11 straight team scores above 191.00 ... The Falcons have their most 192-plus point performances in a season (four) since 2004 (five) ... Stephanie Wagner was SPU's top scorer in at least one event in every meet this season, including seven times on the beam ... Wagner received a career-high 9.85 on the balance beam and floor exercise, the highest score on any apparatus for a Falcon in 2013 ... Four different Falcons registered event wins in meets this year: Shannon Escarra, Stephanie Wagner, Corrine Wise and Kenley Memmel.
 
40 Fantastic Years
Seattle Pacific celebrates its 40th season of gymnastics this year. The inaugural meet on Jan. 12, 1974 featured a second-place all-around result from Laurel (Anderson) Tindall, who is now in her 38th season as head coach. SPU registered 16 consecutive top-four national finishes (1984-99), including championships in 1986, 1992 and 1997. The Falcons earned invitations to 30 of the last 31 championship meets (1982-2008, 2010). SPU gymnasts have won 22 national crowns and collected 163 All-America awards.
 
Shreveport Bound?
The Falcons are ranked No. 4 and appear in great position to earn an invitation to Shreveport, La. for the 2013 USA Gymnastics (USAG) Collegiate Championships, April 12-14. SPU is a perennial championship contender, qualifying for 30 of the last 31 national meets primarily contested by NCAA Division II schools. Since 1982, the Falcons only missed out in 2009.
 
Season Preview
Returnees are expanding their repertoire. That is the focus for the 2013 Seattle Pacific women's gymnastics team that seeks to improve upon last season's seventh-place finish at the 2012 USAG Collegiate Championships. “We return a good core, but when we look at 24 routines we lost 11 from our group that competed at nationals,” said Laurel Tindall, the 38th-year head coach. “We lost almost half of our competition spots, so we do have a lot of spaces to fill in.” To help fill the void, several SPU specialists are adding events, including sophomore Shannon Escarra who may join the bars lineup to make her one of a handful of all-arounders. “We have some all-arounds this year, which we didn't have last year. Potentially three all-arounders will be a turnaround for our team a little bit.” Despite the departure of seven letterwinners, including vault and floor All-American Sherah Veron, the Falcons have a foundation of 12 letterwinners on which to build. Heading the list of returnees is All-American Stephanie Wagner who tied for fifth on the balance beam at the 2012 USAG championships. Corrine Wise returns after missing the entire 2012 season. She garnered All-America acclaim for a third-place beam performance at the 2011 nationals. “Stephanie Wagner will again be a leader in several events. Corrine Wise is here as a fifth-year senior, so that's helpful to have her experience coming back in three events from an injury last year,” SPU will count on an infusion of first-year Falcons in pursuit of its 31st championship meet berth in the last 32 years.
 
Coach Tindall
Laurel Tindall (Anderson) was there the very first time a group of Seattle Pacific gymnasts marched onto the competition floor in 1974. Now, three decades later, she still is an integral part of a program that she helped nurture and lead to a prominent spot on the national scene since taking the coaching reigns in 1976. Whether as an athlete, coach or international-level judge, Tindall has spent a lot of time at the top of the gymnastics world. As she enters her 38th year as head coach, Tindall's SPU teams have won three national championships (1997, 1992, 1986). Falcon athletes garnered 22 national crowns, one of which she earned on the vault in 1975. Tindall has been named the national Coach of the Year four times, most recently in 2003. And, in a tribute to all of her accomplishments in the SPU gym, Tindall was a charter member of the Falcon Legends Hall of Fame. She also operates the Falcon Gymnastics Center for local youth.