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

ST. CHARLES, Mo. – Although it is 2,000 miles away from her home gym in Seattle, Ariana Harger seems to enjoy competing at Hyland Arena.
 
Harger matched her season-high floor exercise score to tie for first place on that event Sunday and help Seattle Pacific achieve its best point total of the year in a triangular meet on the Lindenwood campus in St. Charles, Missouri.
 
The Falcons registered season-best team totals on the balance beam (48.400) and floor (48.575) en route to a total score of 192.300. That was eighth-tenths better than this year's previous high of 191.500, established at home on Jan. 27.
 
"We started on bars and didn't so well, again," said Laurel Tindall, in her 42nd year as SPU's head coach. "Obviously we had a lot to make up, but we had three really solid events after that with season highs on beam and floor."
 
Host Lindenwood, the defending NCAA Division II/USAG Collegiate national champion, won the team competition by two full points with a score of 195.325 and Brown was second with 193.325. The meet featured three-quarters of last year's national finals where SPU placed third and Brown fourth.

 

Harger earned a mark of 9.875 for the second straight meet, the team's finest finest floor score of the season. She tied for top honors on that apparatus with Ryan Henry of Lindenwood.
 
Sunday's meet was contested at Hyland Arena, the same venue where Harger became the national co-champion on the floor. She received a score of 9.90 in the event finals at the 2016 USAG Collegiate meet on April 10.
 
On April 9, in the team finals, Harger broke the school record on the vault with a 9.900. SPU's previous standard of 9.875 had been accomplished 11 times.
 
On the first day of the nationals in St. Charles, Mo., April 8, Harger registered a 9.925 that was the second-highest vault score in school history.
 
For the first time this season the floor lineup produced the Falcons highest-scoring event of the season. They accumulated a season-best total of 48.575 points, led by Harger's winning tally of 9.875. Senior Lauren Glover (Fort Collins, Colo.) tied for sixth on the floor at 9.800 and Itzia San Roman (Burnaby, B.C.) was ninth, 9.725.
 
Two SPU gymnasts exceeded their career highs on floor, freshman Darian Burns (Atlanta, Ga.) with a score of 9.625 and red-shirt freshman Kylee Gauna (Torrance, Calif.) with a 9.550.
 
Sunday marked the Falcons second meet in three days. They had a fourth-place total of 191.000 on Friday at Family Arena in St. Charles.
 
"Friday night we had lots of misses on floor, so it was good to hit the floor sets today," said Tindall. "They all tumbled really well. Ariana (Harger) has been hitting floor great all year. That was Kylee's (Gauna) first time in the floor lineup and she did a really good job."
 
The vault had been SPU's top-scoring event for five consecutive meets before being unseated by the floor crew. Still the event yielded stellar results with all five vaulters receiving scores above 9.50. Burns and Harger tied for fourth place with matching marks of 9.750, Glover was seventh (9.725), Breanna Beltran ninth (9.675) and San Roman 14th (9.550).

 

Glover posted her best balance beam score of the year with a 9.750 that put her in a sixth-place tie with freshman teammate Miyuki Matsune (West Covina, Calif.), who also exceeded her top effort in that event.
 
"I was pleased with Lauren's beam, starting off. Sometimes as the first one on beam she doesn't get scored as well as she should," Tindall explained. "She got a 9.75 tonight, which was great. Finally she got a really good score as our lead-off on beam.
 
"Lauren is a super consistent gymnast who doesn't get riled. She's nice and steady in practice and in meets, which is really good to have."
 
Burns and Beltran were the Falcons top performers on the uneven bars, tying for eighth at 9.700. That was a season-high score for both gymnasts.
 
Lindenwood's Kierstin Sokolowski won three of four individual event titles, the vault (9.825), bars (9.800) and beam (9.875).
 
Henry recorded the highest four-event total of 39.150 and Brown's Caroline Morant was second with 39.025. Harger placed third in the all-around, but her score of 37.050 was diluted by a rough effort on the bars.
 
The Falcons are fighting to earn one of the eight qualifying spots for the USAG Collegiate Championships, which will be contested at their Brougham Pavilion. Entering the week they were ranked 10th and Brown was No. 8.
 
Tindall singled out improvement on the uneven bars as the key to earning a nationals berth.
 
"We beat Brown on all the other events, except for bars. They only beat us by a point today, so we know that if we can get our bars together we can be right in the mix there."
 
The SPU gymnasts remain on the road, but return to the West Coast to compete at the UC Davis Quad Meet on Friday at 7 p.m. They will be joined at The Pavilion by MPSF conference members Sacramento State, San Jose State and host UC Davis.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S GYMNASTICS
Lindenwood Triangular Meet
Sunday, Feb. 19, 2017
Hyland Arena / St. Charles, Mo.
 
Team Scores
1, Lindenwood, 195.325
2, Brown, 193.325
3, Seattle Pacific, 192.300
 
All-Around
1, Ryan Henry, LU, 39.150
2, Caroline Morant, BU, 39.025
3, Ariana Harger, SPU, 37.050
 
Vault
1, Kierstin Sokolowski, LU, 9.825
2t, Ryan Henry, LU, 9.775
2t, Aubree Horn, LU, 9.775
4t, Darian Burns, SPU, 9.750
4t, Ariana Harger, SPU, 9.750
4t, Caroline Morant, BU, 9.750
 
Uneven Bars
1t, Kierstin Sokolowski, LU, 9.800
1t, Andavea Alexander, LU, 9.800
3, Anya Olson, BU, 9.775
    Top SPU Scorers – 8t, Darian Burns & Breanna Beltran, 9.700
 
Balance Beam
1, Kierstin Sokolowski, LU, 9.875
2, Emily Milliet, LU, 9.825
3, Breanna Franklin, LU, 9.800
    Top SPU Scorers – 6, Lauren Glover & Miyuki Matsune, 9.750
 
Floor Exercise
1t, Ariana Harger, SPU, 9.875
1t, Ryan Henry, LU, 9.875
3, Caroline Morant, BU, 9.850
 
 
Next Meet
Seattle Pacific at UC Davis Quad (with Sacramento State & San Jose State)
Friday, Feb. 24, 7:00 p.m. PST
The Pavilion / Davis, Calif.