• Individual Event Results (pdf)          |     • VIDEO: Maria   Hundley interview
  • VIDEO: Maria  Hundley beam         |     • VIDEO: Maria  Hundley bars
  • VIDEO: Maria  Hundley vault          |     • VIDEO: Paige  Blaney vault
  • VIDEO: Kristi  Hayashida beam      |     • VIDEO: Tracie  Villanueva bars
  • VIDEO: Ariana  Harger floor

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – Maria Hundley missed several months of training with concussion-like symptoms. Sunday it was the opposing gymnasts heads that were spinning as they witnessed two more national-championship performances from the Seattle Pacific junior.
 
Hundley successfully defended her balance beam and uneven bars national titles and three of her SPU teammates also collected medals Sunday at the USA Gymnastics Women's Collegiate Championships in The Palestra.
 
Hundley increased her career total to five national championships, more than any gymnast in school history. She captured three crowns last year, including a vault title.
 
The SPU junior missed fall training due to injuries that kept her sidelined for the first five meets of this season. She returned to the lineup on Feb. 13 and quickly returned to the championship-caliber form she first displayed at last April's national meet in Providence, R.I.
 
"We weren't sure what we were going to get from Maria this year," said Laurel Tindall, who completed her 40th season as the Falcons head coach.
 
"She came away with two more national championships. Maria defended those titles in two events, which was awesome."
 
The Falcons have now accumulated 28 all-time individual championships with four of them coming from the previous career record-holder Barbara Elliott (1986-87).


 
Hundley (Littleton, Colo.) parlayed the finest beam routine of her career into her first gold medal of the meet. She earned a 9.90, the second-best beam score ever for a Falcon. SPU's standard of 9.925 was established in 2001 by Alison Siegel.
 
"It's definitely hard to defend," explained Tindall (Anderson), herself a two-time collegiate champion as a vaulter.
 
"Maria is just a very clean gymnast and she obviously can come through at the right time. That beam routine was the best she has done all year. It was faultless and one judge gave her a 9.95."
 
Sasha Tsikhanovich of Bridgeport posted a second-place score of 9.850 and SPU sophomore Kristi Hayashida (Mililani, Hawaii) earned the beam's bronze medal with a 9.825 tally.
 
"That was an awesome routine for Kristi," Tindall said. "It was nice this year that she hit all three days in a row. Last year she hit the first day and missed the next two. So that was a great finish for her, definitely a much higher finish for her."


 
The Falcons garnered gold and bronze medals on the bars as well. Hundley topped the field with a 9.875 followed by the 9.825 of runner-up Courtney Cochefski from Texas Woman's University. Tracie Villanueva (Kaneohe, Hawaii), a sophomore at SPU, received a score of 9.800 to finish in a three-way tie for third along with Elyse Shenberger from host Pennsylvania and Lindenwood's Courtney Heise.
 
Falcons' freshman Ariana Harger (Castro Valley, Calif.) achieved a mark of 9.850 to tie for fourth place on the floor exercise. Three gymnasts were deadlocked with first-place scores of 9.90, Tsikhanovich and Caitlin Perry of Bridgeport along with TWU's Kayla Jones.
 
"Ari did very well. Her floor has improved a lot during the year, mostly in her presentation and how she shows off the routine," Tindall described.
 
"That's not how she started doing it in the fall and we had to start getting after her about using some facial expressions and making eye contact. I think she' probably figure out that it paid off."
 
Bridgeport's Brianna Comport and Brown's Caroline Morant matched Harger's fourth-place floor mark.
 
Hundley also competed in the vault finals and turned in a sixth-place score of 9.7375. Her sophomore teammate Paige Blaney (Edmonton, Alberta) was ninth at 9.7125.

 

"The fact that they all hit was great," said Tindall. "You use to see a lot of falls in the individual event finals. Kids are tired, especially the ones that have gone three days in a row. The kids that have had a break, and weren't in team finals, always had a little bit of an advantage.
 
"But Paige hit her vault and Tracie had a great bars set. They all hit good routines today."
 
Lindenwood's Kierstin Sokolowski netted a first-place mark of 9.8375 on the vault.
 
The Falcons five finalists, who are all eligible to return and compete next season, each received All-America certificates.
 
In total, SPU gymnasts collected eight All-America awards during the championships. Senior Sydney Clark (Eugene Ore.) placed eighth in Friday's all-around competition with a score of 38.20.
 
Sponsored by USA Gymnastics, the collegiate national championships feature NCAA Division II members and Division I schools that choose to adhere to the limit of 7-1/2 scholarships. This year's championship field included four Division I schools and four Division II entries, including Seattle Pacific.
 
The Falcons were competing in the championship meet for the 33rd time in the last 34 years. They took home the third-place trophy in Saturday's team competition after compiling a season-high score of 194.225.
 
Lindenwood, from St. Charles, Missouri, won its first team championship with a mark of 195.550 and Bridgeport was second at 194.675.
 
SPU has won three national team titles, in 1986, 1992 and 1997.


 
USA Gymnastics Women's Collegiate Championships
The Palestra / Philadelphia, Pa.
Sunday, April 12, 2015
 
INDIVIDUAL EVENT FINALS
 
Vault
1, Kierstin Sokolowski, Lindenwood, 9.8375
2t, Madison Nettles, Texas Woman's, 9.8250
2t, Jessica Wallander, Air Force, 9.8250
4, Rachel Zabawa, Lindenwood, 9.8125
5, Ashley White, Centenary, 9.7625
6t, Maria Hundley, Seattle Pacific, 9.7375
6t, Kimberly Stewart, Bridgeport, 9.7375
8, Caitlin Perry, Bridgeport, 9.7250
9, Paige Blaney, Seattle Pacific, 9.7125
10, Morgan Venuti, Pennsylvania, 9.6625
11, Aubree Horn, Lindenwood, 9.5625
12, Noel Stubbs, Centenary, 9.1750
 
Uneven Bars
1, Maria Hundley, Seattle Pacific, 9.875
2, Courtney Cochefski, Texas Woman's, 9.825
3t, Tracie Villanueva, Seattle Pacific, 9.800
3t, Elyse Shenberger, Pennsylvania, 9.800
3t, Courtney Heise, Lindenwood, 9.800
6, Shaylan Garay, Lindenwood, 9.775
7, Morgan Traina, Yale, 9.750
8, Joyce Li, Yale, 9.725
9t, Alyssa Kelly, Texas Woman's, 9.700
9t, Trystien Charles, Lindenwood, 9.700
11, Morgan Venuti, Pennsylvania, 9.675
 
Balance Beam
1, Maria Hundley, Seattle Pacific, 9.900
2, Sasha Tsikhavovich, Bridgeport, 9.850
3, Kristi Hayashida, Seattle Pacific, 9.825
4, Elyse Shenberger, Pennsylvania, 9.800
5, Lauren Cartmell, Lindenwood, 9.775
6, Caroline Morant, Brown, 9.750
7, Regan Butchness, Brown, 9.675
8, Stephanie Repp, Texas Woman's, 9.500
9, Ashley White, Centenary, 9.225
10, Alyssa Kelly, Texas Woman's, 9.200
 
Floor Exercise
1t, Kayla Jones, Texas Woman's, 9.900
1t, Sasha Tsikhanovich, Bridgeport, 9.900
1t, Caitlin Perry, Bridgeport, 9.900
4t, Ariana Harger, Seattle Pacific, 9.850
4t, Brianna Comport, Bridgeport, 9.850
4t, Caroline Morant, Brown, 9.850
7, Diana Walters, Brown, 9.825
8t, Spencer Jones, Texas Woman's, 9.800
8t, Kara Witgen, Air Force, 9.800
10t, Jessica Wallander, Air Force, 9.750
10t, Camila Opperman, Yale, 9.750