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SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Darian Burns tied for top honors on the floor exercise and was the all-around runner-up Friday for Seattle Pacific, which nearly defeated the host school before settling for third place in the Sacramento State triangular women's gymnastics meet in the Hornets Nest.
 
A floor score of 9.875, just 0.025 off the career-best effort that won her the 2017 national championship, gave Burns a share of first place with Stanford's Morgan Hoang. The SPU junior also placed fifth on the balance beam (9.700) and sixth on the uneven bars (9.600).
 
Burns registered a mark of 9.675 on the vault to complete a four-event total of 38.850. Only the Cardinal's Kyla Bryant topped that total with 39.175 points to win the all-around.
 
"That was a great all-around total for Darian," exclaimed Laurel Tindall, who begins her 44th year as head coach of the Falcons.
 
"It helped that we were on the floor after Stanford and her routine is comparable. She did a good job with it tonight."

 

SPU senior Itzia San Roman had a fourth-place total of 37.625 in the all-around while junior teammate Zahra Lawal tied for fourth on the vault at 9.750.
 
"Zahra landed her vault after not landing any in warmup," Tindall explained. "We talked about just having her do a layout, but decided that she's getting closer with her vault.
 
"We weren't going to back off and not throw skills. We were going to throw everything and thought with a little adrenaline Zahra might stand up. And she did, so that was exciting."
 
Stanford easily captured the team title with 194.650 points. Host Sacramento erased a one-point deficit during the final rotation to overtake SPU. The Hornets collected 189.950 team points and SPU had 189.825. Both of Friday's opponents were NCAA Division I members while the Falcons are Division II.
 
"We didn't expect to be that close especially after starting slow on bars, when we were wondering how to salvage this meet," said Tindall. "Beam went okay in the second rotation and then floor and vault came out really well at the end."
 
Cardinal gymnasts claimed first place in all four events. Rachael Flam was the winner on the vault (9.850), Bryant on the bars (9.850) and Taryn Fitzgerald on the beam (9.850).

 

One Falcon made her collegiate debut on Friday, Kayla Chan from Santa Clarita, California. She performed well in her inaugural outing, recording scores of 9.725 on the floor, 9.600 on the beam and 9.000 on the vault.
 
NEXT MEET
The SPU gymnasts return to action next Friday, Jan. 18, in the 2019 home opener. They host UC Davis in a 7 p.m. dual meet at Brougham Pavilion.
 
That is the first of five home meets for the Falcons, a slate that concludes with the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Championships on March 23.
 
VAULT
• The Falcons posted a stellar team score of 48.350 in the final rotation, a vault figure they only eclipsed four times last season. It took them seven meets to score that high in 2018.
• Junior Zahra Lawal led off in fine fashion with a career-high score of 9.750. That was a 0.125-point improvement from her previous best and put her in a fourth-place tie.
• The final two competitors in the Falcons lineup, Itzia San Roman and Darian Burns, each earned the same 9.675 score.
 
SPU vault scores in competition order
1-Zahra Lawal 9.750, 2-Jadacie Durst 9.650, 3-Kayla Chan 9.000, 4-McKenna Zimmermann 9.600, 5-Itzia San Roman 9.675, 6-Darian Burns 9.675. Team Total – 48.350
 
BARS
• The Falcons faltered on the first rotation with a few falls preventing them from reaching the 47-point plateau. Instead they tallied 45.800 points with only one gymnast scoring above 9.30.
• The uneven bars sets featured the sixth-place score of 9.600 turned in by Darian Burns in the fifth position.
• Sophomore Jadacie Durst competed on bars for the first time competitively and received a score of 9.100. She exhibitioned on that apparatus twice in 2018 with a high mark of 9.675.
 
SPU bars scores in competition order
1-Jadacie Durst 9.100, 2-Miyuki Matsune 8.650, 3-McKenna Zimmermann 9.250, 4-Itzia San Roman 9.200, 5-Darian Burns 9.600, 6-Sienna Brane 8.200. Team Total – 45.800
 
BEAM
• The second rotation was a drastic improvement from the first as the Falcons collectively scored 47.150 points on the balance beam.
• Freshman Kayla Chan made her collegiate debut in the No. 2 position of the beam lineup. She got off to a wonderful start with a clean routine that earned a score of 9.600 in her home state of California.
• Darian Burns followed with the team's best routine and was rewarded with a 9.700 for fifth place. That is a fine first-meet score for the junior, just 0.15 off her career best.
• Three Falcons topped the 9.5 mark on the beam, including junior Sienna Brane who garnered a 9.550.
• Junior Miyuki Matsune performed in the anchor spot and received a 9.250. Her outstanding routine would have merited the team's top score except for a half-point deduction for a fall on her mount.
 
SPU beam scores in competition order
1-McKenna Zimmermann 9.050, 2-Kayla Chan 9.600, 3-Darian Burns 9.700, 4-Sienna Brane 9.550, 5-Itzia San Roman 9.000, 6-Miyuki Matsune 9.250. Team Total – 47.150
 
FLOOR
• A terrific third event pushed SPU into second place with a three-event total of 141.475. They led host Sacramento State (141.375) by one point entering the final event.
• All five scoring Falcons surpassed the 9.50 barrier en route to a lofty team total of 48.525. They didn't score that high on the floor last year until the seventh meet of the season.
• A trio of SPU gymnasts surpassed 9.70 points, including freshman Kayla Chan with a 9.725 in her first time on the floor as a Falcon.
• Senior Itzia San Roman came within .025 of her career best in this event with a 9.750.
• Darian Burns tied for first place with a terrific total of 9.875 points. That was higher than any SPU gymnast scored on floor in 2018. Burns came within 0.025 of her career-best 9.90 tally that won her the 2017 USAGym national championship as a freshman.
 
SPU floor scores in competition order
1-Kylee Gauna 8.925, 2-Miyuki Matsune 9.525, 3-Kayla Chan 9.725, 4-Jadacie Durst 9.650, 5-Itzia San Roman 9.750 6-Darian Burns 9.875. Team Total – 48.525
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S GYMNASTICS
Sacramento State Triangular Meet
Friday, Jan. 11, 2019
Hornets Nest / Sacramento, Calif.
 
Team Scores
1, Stanford, 194.650
2, Sacramento State, 189.950
3, Seattle Pacific, 189.825
 
All-Around
1, Kyla Bryant, Stanford, 39.175
2, Darian Burns, SPU, 38.850
3, Jordyn Brent, Sacramento, 38.800
4, Itzia San Roman, SPU, 37.625
 
Vault
1, Rachael Flam, Stanford, 9.850
2, Aleeza Yu, Stanford, 9.825
3, Kyla Bryant, Stanford, 9.800
4t, Zahra Lawal, SPU, 9.750
4t, Alexis Belkoff, Sacramento, 9.800
6, Jordyn Brent, Sacramento, 9.700
 
Uneven Bars
1, Kyla Bryant, Stanford, 9.850
2, Aleeza Yu, Stanford, 9.825
3, Grace Waguespack, Stanford, 9.750
4, Taylor Lawson, Stanford, 9.700
5, Jordyn Brent, Sacramento, 9.675
6, Darian Burns, SPU, 9.600
 
Balance Beam
1, Taryn Fitzgerald, Stanford, 9.850
2, Kyla Bryant, Stanford, 9.800
3t, Kaylee Cole, Stanford, 9.725
3t, Wesley Stephenson, Stanford, 9.725
5, Darian Burns, SPU, 9.700
6, Shaye Mathias, Sacramento, 9.675
 
Floor Exercise
1t, Darian Burns, SPU, 9.875
1t, Morgan Hoang, Stanford, 9.875
3, Taylor Lawson, Stanford, 9.850
4, Rachael Flam, Stanford, 9.825
5t, Kaylee Cole, Stanford, 9.800
5t, Alexis Belkoff, Sacramento, 9.800
 
 
Next SPU Meet
UC Davis at Seattle Pacific
Friday, Jan. 18, 7:00 p.m. PST
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.