• Final Scores (html)    |    • Complete Results (pdf)

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Focus for four events Friday fueled the Falcons fulfilling finish.
 
Ariana Harger placed second in the all-around with a career-high score of 38.625 and Maria Hundley was the vault runner-up for Seattle Pacific, which shattered its previous season-high team score by over three points with a 193.050 in a dual meet at Sacramento State.
 
The NCAA Division II Falcons registered season-best team marks in all four events en route to the 21st-highest score in school history. They entered the meet with a high team total of 189.90, but seven individual career-high scores and 14 season bests helped smash that standard.
 
So what was Coach Laurel Tindall thinking about as her team was racking up its finest performances event after event?
 
"The thought was, 'Let's not be a three-event team.' We've done that so many times when we finished on balance beam, and then bombed beam."
 
Tindall's fears were for naught. The Falcons finished the meet on the beam and amassed an outstanding total of 48.225 that included Kristi Hayashida's third-place 9.80 and a season-best 9.70 from Harger.
 
Sacramento, a Division I competitor, finished atop the team standings with 194.300 points.
 
These same teams met in Seattle for a Jan. 22 dual meet and the result was a six-point rout by the Hornets. Not so this time, in The Nest, as the teams were tied through two rotations and the Falcons finished just over one point back by the end of the night.
 
The Hornets scored nearly as well as the 194.425 they produced in Seattle, but SPU improved by a whopping 4.625 points.
 
"After two events we were tied, so that was interesting," Tindall said. "This is a team that beat us by six points three weeks ago. So six points to 1.25 points is obviously a big difference. That was a good improvement."
 
Harger (Castro Valley, Calif.) finished fourth on the vault with a season-high 9.775. The sophomore also had a career-best 9.45 uneven bars routine and scored 9.70 on the floor exercise.

 

Hundley (Littleton, Colo.) received a score of 9.80 to tie for second on the vault. That is the fourth 9.80 in five meets and continued the senior's streak as the top Falcon vaulter in every outing this year.
 
While winning five national championships in three events the during last two years, Hundley had never competed on the floor as a collegian. She did Friday and earned a 9.700, providing a 37.775 tally in her all-around debut.
 
"Maria doing a floor routine for the first time in four years was great," said Tindall. "Unfortunately she fell on bars, which she has been solid on. She got it back and had one of the higher scores on floor. I think she was relieved to get through that first floor routine."
 
Sacramento's Lauren Rice recorded the top four-event total of 39.225. She was the meet champion on the vault (9.825), bars (9.825) and beam (9.850). Teammates Jesse Williams and Cassie Benning tied for first-place honors on the floor at 9.875.
 
SPU had a top-three finisher in all four events, including a third-place performance of 9.825 by Lauren Glover on the floor.
 
"We finally put it all together, which was really good," Tindall exclaimed. "Itzia (San Roman) hurt herself in warm-ups and she was scheduled to compete in three events, so this was a great team score with putting our exhibition people in the lineup."
 
The Falcons started off in fine fashion on what has been their most challenging event. They combined for a season-high score of 48.00 on the bars behind three career-high marks and two additional season-best scores. Hundley matched her season-best of 9.80 in a second-place result.
 
Setting career highs on bars were freshmen Maryanna Peterson (9.575) and Carly Kano (9.50) along with sophomore Harger (9.45). A pair of SPU juniors posted season bests, Breanna Beltran with a third-place mark of 9.75 and Tracie Villanueva at 9.725.
 
The team's performance on bars was so solid that the low score SPU tossed out came from Hundley, a two-time national champion on that apparatus.
 
SPU trailed its hosts by 0.85 points after one event, but evened the score at 96.375 after a spectacular showing on the vault.
 
Harger hit a season-best 9.775 vault and Glover tied her top 2016 mark of 9.70.
 
The trend of season-high team scores continued during the third rotation as the Falcons forged a 48.45 on the floor, their first time above the 48-point plateau this season in that event.

 

Alexa Okamura (9.625) and Glover (9.825) established career-high marks on the floor while Brittany Atchison (9.60) had a season high.
 
The SPU gymnasts return home to host UC Davis on Friday, Feb. 12 at 7 p.m. That is the second of four meets this season in Brougham Pavilion.
 
Tindall hopes that the good feelings from this Friday's meet will carry over into next week.
 
"Now they are little more positive, they gained a little confidence and they know that they can put up a high score. That obviously helps."


NCAA WOMEN'S GYMNASTICS
Friday, Feb. 5, 2016
The Nest / Sacramento, Calif.

Team Scores
1, Sacramento State, 194.300
2, Seattle Pacific, 193.050

All-Around
1, Lauren Rice, SSU, 39.225
2, Ariana Harger, SPU, 38.625
3, Kalliah McCartney, SSU, 38.600
4, Maria Hundley, SPU, 37.775

Vault
1, Lauren Rice, SSU, 9.825
2t, Maria Hundley, SPU, 9.800
2t, Kalliah McCartney, SSU, 9.800

Uneven Bars
1, Lauren Rice, SSU, 9.825
2, Courteney Ng, SSU, 9.775
3, Breanna Beltran, SPU, 9.750

Balance Beam
1, Lauren Rice, SSU, 9.850
2, Kalliah McCartney, SSU, 9.825
3, Kristi Hayashida, SPU, 9.800

Floor Exercise
1t, Jesse Williams, SSU, 9.875
1t, Cassie Benning, SSU, 9.875
3t, Lauren Glover, SPU, 9.825
3t, Kalliah McCartney, SSU, 9.825


Next SPU Meet
UC Davis at Seattle Pacific
Friday, Feb. 12, 7:00 p.m. PST
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.