• Complete Results (pdf)                 |    • VIDEO: Maria  Hundley interview
  • VIDEO: Maria  Hundley vault        |    • VIDEO: Breanna  Beltran bars
  • VIDEO: Ariana  Harger floor         |    • VIDEO: Lauren  Glover floor
  • VIDEO: Kristi  Hayashida beam    |    • VIDEO: Maria  Hundley beam
  • VIDEO: Maria  Hundley bars

ST. CHARLES, Mo. – One Seattle Pacific gymnast scaled the victory platform for the record seventh time. Another Falcon made her first ascent to the pinnacle.
 
Maria Hundley captured the vault gold medal and collected two silvers while teammate Ariana Harger shared the national title on the floor exercise Sunday during the individual event finals of the USA Gymnastics Women's Collegiate Championships in Hyland Arena.


 
Hundley was the third gymnast to perform a vault in the finals and, after receiving a score of 9.850, she had to wait through five more competitors before being declared the champion. The SPU senior was also the national vault winner in 2014.
 
"My vault was really clean, which was really awesome," Hundley exclaimed. "Vault is an event that I've struggled on mentally, so it just felt really good to hit my last vault ever."

 

Harger's fantastic floor performance was rewarded with a mark of 9.90. That was a career-best effort and tied her for first place with Randi Cutolo of Bridgeport. The national championship was the first for Harger, who finished fourth among floor competitors at the 2015 event finals.
 
Coach Laurel Tindall believes that Harger's participation in the 2015 event finals laid the groundwork for this year's victory.
 
"It definitely helps that she competed in finals last year. You don't know what to expect your first time, with a pretty laid back warm-up and a much different than normal meet situation.
 
"Last year she was in the mix, but not quite there. Ari did a really great routine tonight and I'm glad that she got a piece of the gold."


 
Another Falcons' floor standout mounted the awards podium as junior Lauren Glover tied for bronze-medal acclaim. Her score of 9.875 was a career high.
 
A pair of SPU gymnasts shared the silver medal on the balance beam. Hundley was the two-time defending champion on that apparatus and scored a 9.85 in Sunday's final. She was matched by junior teammate Kristi Hayashida, who moved one spot higher on the medal platform after placing third in 2015.
 
"Kristi was in the bronze position last year and so she moved up a step. Maybe next year it will be her gold," Tindall projected.


 
Jessica Wang of Yale netted a first-place mark of 9.875 on the beam.
 
Bridgeport's Christine Liautaud posted a winning score of 9.85 on the bars and Brown's Caroline Morant tied for second with Hundley, who had won the title the previous two seasons.
 
SPU junior Breanna Beltran registered a score of 9.70 on the uneven bars to finish eighth in the standings.
 
Hundley's final routine as a Falcon came on the bars and she was hesitant to start that set.
 
"Honestly, even before I got on the bars I was getting emotional. I was like 'I don't want to do it because I don't want it to end.' I'm so, so thankful for my experience."
 
She kept control of those emotions and turned in a silver-medal showing with a score of 9.825. After sticking her landing, Hundley shared a long embrace with her tearful coach.
 
"Maria had a great bars set. We couldn't have asked anything more from her today," Tindall said. "After her routine ended I went up to her and said, 'that's a wrap!'"
 
The most decorated career in the 43-year history of the SPU gymnastics program was completed. Hundley had already etched her named throughout the school record book while earning 12 All-America awards. This weekend the Falcons senior perched herself atop the list of all-time NCAA Division II gymnasts.
 
Sunday's vault crown, along with the all-around gold medal that Hundley earned with a four-event score of 39.40 on Friday, increased her career total to seven individual national titles. She won two championships each on the vault (2014, 2016), bars (2014, 2015) and beam (2014, 2015).
 
Just three other NCAA Division II gymnasts have achieved seven national titles: Maureen LaGrua (1987-90) and Monica Mesalles (2011-12) of Bridgeport (1987-90) along with Kim Koenig (1996-99) of Texas Women's University.
 
Hundley also matched the national record of six career event championships (not including all-around), sharing that mark with LaGrua and Mesalles.

 

 To top it all off, Hundley was honored with the prestigious Senior Athlete of the Meet award after Sunday's meet.
 
Her trio of top-two finishes helped SPU gather six medals during the event finals, two golds, three silvers and one bronze.
 
 "We did great. Everybody hit routines," said Tindall. "Sometimes it's hard to come back for the people that competed last night and in their third day of competition. But everybody came back and really had some good routines today.
 
"It was tough to be a champion today because the level of gymnastics was so incredible here, but two of our kids won titles."
 
The Falcons have now accumulated 31 all-time individual championships. All five of this year's finalists received first-team All-America accolades.
 
In total, SPU gymnasts gathered 13 All-America awards during the 2016 championships. Hundley earned five of those, one from every possible category, including the all-around and all four events. She was a second-team All-American on the floor, the only event in which she didn't qualify for finals.
 
Harger garnered second-team acclaim for the vault and beam while Glover was a second-team vault honoree.
 
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 34th time in the last 35 years. They took home the third-place trophy in Saturday's team competition after compiling a school-record score of 195.875.
 
Host Lindenwood won its second straight team championship with a mark of 195.875 and Bridgeport was second at 195.800.
 
SPU has won three national team titles, in 1986, 1992 and 1997.
 
Next year, the Falcons will host the three-day USAG Championships. The 2017 meet will take place April 7-9 in Brougham Pavilion on the SPU campus.
 
 
NCAA GYMNASTICS
USAG Women's Collegiate Championships
Hyland Arena / St. Charles, Mo.
Sunday, April 10, 2016
 
INDIVIDUAL EVENT FINALS
 
Vault
1, Maria Hundley, Seattle Pacific, 9.8500
2, Kimberly Stewart, Bridgeport, 9.8375
3t, Caroline Morant, Brown, 9.8250
3t, Malia Mackey, Cornell, 9.8250
5t, Rachel Zabawa, Lindenwood, 9.8000
5t, Corey Holman, Brown, 9.8000
7, Ahsley White, Centenary, 9.7875
8t, Jamie Lewis, Air Force, 9.7750
8t, Megan Gentry, Texas Woman's, 9.7750
10, Valeri Ingui, Lindenwood, 9.7375
11, Majesta Valentine, West Chester, 9.7125
12, Aubree Horn, Lindenwood, 9.1250
 
Uneven Bars
1, Christine Liautaud, Bridgeport, 9.850
2t, Maria Hundley, Seattle Pacific, 9.825
2t, Caroline Morant, Brown, 9.825
4t, Maritza Futch, Bridgeport, 9.800
4t, Jenna Cashmore, Texas Woman's, 9.800
4t, Jessica Wang, Yale, 9.800
7, Meghan Brannon, West Chester, 9.775
8, Breanna Beltran, Seattle Pacific, 9.700
9, Alexandra Chretien, Brown, 9.600
10, Mariana Murphy, Air Force, 9.200
 
Balance Beam
1, Jessica Wang, Yale, 9.8750
2t, Maria Hundley, Seattle Pacific, 9.850
2t, Kristi Hayashida, Seattle Pacific, 9.850
4t, Brianna Comport, Bridgeport, 9.825
4t, Brittney Sooksengdao Yale, 9.825
6t, Regan Butchness, Brown, 9.800
6t, Schyler Jones, Texas Woman's, 9.800
6t, Megan Gentry, Texas Woman's, 9.800
6t, Majesta Valentine, West Chester, 9.800
10t, Lauren Cartmell, Lindenwood, 9.775
10t, Ashley White, Centenary, 9.775
12, Rachel Zabawa, Lindenwood, 9.725
13, Joy Gage, Cornell, 9.675
14, Malia Mackey, Cornell, 9.250
 
Floor Exercise
1t, Ariana Harger, Seattle Pacific, 9.900
1t, Randi Cutolo, Bridgeport, 9.900
3t, Lauren Glover, Seattle Pacific, 9.875
3t, Kayla McMullan, Lindenwood, 9.875
3t, Rachel Zabawa, Lindenwood, 9.875
3t, Brianna Comport, Bridgeport, 9.875
7, Navia Jordan, Centenary, 9.850
8t, Ajiea Hargrave, Bridgeport, 9.825
8t, Erin Alderman, Texas Woman's, 9.825
8t, Nicole Pruchnik, Southern Connecticut, 9.825
11, Rachel Graham, Penn, 9.800
12, Jorden Mitchell, Brown, 9.725
13, Andavea Alexander, Lindenwood, 9.250