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• VIDEO: KAYLA  CHAN               |    • PHOTO GALLERY

SEATTLE – Piling up 39 points in all-around competition is a tall order – so tall that only seven gymnasts in the long, distinguished history of the Seattle Pacific program have done it.
 
Darian Burns is one of those six. And on Friday night, she did it for the third time in her career.
 
With a winning mark on the vault and a career-high on the balance beam, Burns finished with 39.175 points, tying for the fifth-highest total on the school's all-time list as SPU opened the home portion of its 2019 schedule against UC Davis in Brougham Pavilion.
 
"Awesome," SPU coach Laurel Tindall exclaimed. "Darian had a great meet. She was a little off on her tumbling pass on floor kept her from scoring even higher.
 
"I knew after three events she was leading the all-around and I thought it would be really good for her to beat those two Davis gymnasts. But the little slip-up for her on floor moved her to second."
 
The performance by Burns, plus career highs from three other gymnasts across the four events, helped the Falcons finish with 192.625 points. Davis, capped by a 49-point night on the beam, won the meet with 195.225.
 
"Definitely a good early season score," said Tindall. "We told them after last week's meet that if we put a few more things together we can be in the 192 or 193 point range. Now if we can figure out the right kids to put in the lineup that would help even more. We had some really good scores from gymnasts in exhibitions."
 
Burns, a native of Decatur, Georgia, bettered her previous all-around high of 39.150, which she set last Feb. 23 at home in a three-way meet against Alaska Anchorage and Sacramento State. Her other 39 was 39.100, which gained her a share of the silver medal at last April's USA Gymnastics Collegiate Championships in Denton, Texas.
 
Friday's total tied her with Maria Hundley in the No. 5 SPU all-around score. It was the 16th time a Falcon athlete reach the 39-point plateau. Hundley has six, Burns three and Alison Siegel three while Debra Huss, Deni Boswell, Ariana Harger and current SPU assistant coach Sarah (Sullivan) Marshall each did it once. Hundley, who graduated in 2016, owns the record with a 39.400 at that year's USAGym nationals.
 
A 9.800 on the vault to begin the night gave Burns the win on that event, just enough to edge the matching 9.775s by Alyssa Ito and Kelley Hebert of the Aggies. Burns followed with a season-high 9.825 on the uneven bars to place second.
 
Her marks on those two events were just slightly below her all-time bests: 9.825 on the vault, 9.85 on the bars.
 
Then came the runner-up mark of 9.825 on the beam, topping her previous high of 9.800. Among the moves she stuck was a front tuck, with nary a wobble.
 
That left her needing a 9.700 or better on the floor to break her personal all-around record. She got it with a 9.725, good enough for third place on that apparatus.
 
 
 
 

Sophomores Jadacie Durst (9.55 on the bars) and McKenna Zimmerman (9.675, also on the bars) along with Kayla Chan (9.750 on the floor) were the other Falcons to put career highs into the book.

A freshman making her SPU home debut, Chan was the floor runner-up, second only to Hebert who scored 9.875. Chan was the only Falcon to beat Burns in an event on Friday.
 
"Kayla is a super bouncy tumbler. She has really powerful legs and gets great height on things," Tindall described. "She does really well with that routine. On beam she did pretty well again and she stood up her vault, even though she was in exhibition, so improvement all around there."

UCD's Aya Suzuki topped the bars field with a mark of 9.850 and teammate Sarah Liddle was the leading beam scorer at 9.850.
 
Miyuki Matsune, a Falcons junior, registered a 9.800 on the beam to finish in a five-way tied for fourth place with a quartet of Aggies.
 
SPU's total score was an improvement of nearly three points from last week's opener at Sacramento State, when it finished with 189.825. Furthermore, it put the Falcons way ahead of last season, as they didn't hit 192 until the Feb. 23 meet against UAA and Sac State.
 
The bars proved problematic in last week's road meet as they Falcons scored under 46 points. They were 2.525 points better this week with a combined 48.325 bars points. In fact, that event tied for their second-best of the night, finishing just 0.05 behind a vault total of 48.375.
 
"We were so much better on bars this week," Tindall said. "We only have six kids right now training on bars, so it's a little bit difficult. But our five scorers came through tonight."
 
UCD's Hebert won the all-around competition on Friday with a 39.200. Falcons senior Itzia San Roman compiled a four-event total of 38.175 points to place fourth.

 
NEXT MEET
This was the first of five home meets on the Seattle Pacific calendar, but now comes a string of three straight road contests. The first of those is next Friday at San Jose State, a quadrangular meet which also will include Air Force and Anchorage. Competition begins at 7:00 p.m.
 
VAULT
• The Falcons opened with a season-high total of 43.875 points, topping last week's mark at Sacramento State of 48.350.
• Sophomore McKenna Zimmerman (9.625), senior Itzia San Roman (9.725), and junior Darian Burns (9.800) all posted season-high scores.
• San Roman was just off her career high of 9.725.
• Kayla Chann exhibitioned on vault and received a score of 9.550.
 
SPU vault scores in competition order
1-Zahara Lawal 9.200, 2-McKenna Zimmerman 9.625, 3-Lena Wirth 9.625, 4-Jadacie Durst 9.600, 5-Itzia San Roman 9.725, 6-Darian Burns 9.800, EX-Kayla Chan 9.550.  Team total – 48.375.
 
BARS
• After struggling on this event at last week's season-opener, the Falcons racked up 48.325 points. That was a jump of 2½ points from their 45.800 at Sacramento State.
• Jadacie Durst and fellow sophomore McKenna Zimmermann set the tone with their aforementioned career-high performances. Durst's 9.550 was way ahead of her previous best of 9.100, and Zimmerman's 9.675 topped her old high of 9.625.
• San Roman, Burns, and junior Sienna Brane all had season highs.
 
SPU uneven bars scores in competition order
1-Jadacie Durst 9.550, 2-McKenna Zimmerman 9.675, 3-Miyuki Matsune 8.825, 4-Itzia San Roman 9.575, 5-Darian Burns 9.825, 6-Sienna Brane 9.700.  Team total – 48.325.
 
BEAM
• SPU finished with 47.600 points, a slight uptick from last week's 47.150 at Sacramento State.
• In addition to Burns, juniors Lena Wirth and Miyuki Matsune came through with no-fall performances. For Matsune, it resulted in a season-high of 9.800, and Wirth pulled in a 9.675.
• Matsune's score was a big jump from her 9.250 of a week ago that counted a half-point deduction for a fall on her mount.
• Two Falcons performed non-counting exhibition routines with McKenna Zimmermann earning a 9.750 that would have been the team's third-best on that apparatus, and Emily Anderson scored 9.150 in her collegiate debut.
 
SPU balance beam scores in competition order
1-Lena Wirth 9.675, 2-Kayla Chan 9.000, 3, Darian Burns 9.825, 4-Sienna Brane 8.625, 5-Itzia San Roman 9.300, 6-Miyuki Matsune 9.800, EX-McKenna Zimmermann 9.750, EX-Emily Anderson 9.150.  Team total – 47.600.
 
FLOOR
• The Falcons checked in with 48.325 points, slightly below last week's 48.525.
• Freshman Kayla Chan, who made her college debut last week at 9.725, went even higher this time with her 9.750 to lead the Falcons and finish second overall.
• Senior Kylee Gauna got SPU started with a season-high 9.625.
• Durst tied her season high with a 9.650.
• McKenna Zimmermann made her second exhibition appearance and scored 9.525 on the floor, which gave her an excellent non-counting all-around tally of 38.575.
 
SPU floor exercise scores in competition order
1-Kylee Gauna 9.625, 2-Miyuki Matsune 9.425, 3-Kayla Chan 9.750, 4-Jadacie Durst 9.650, 5-Itzia San Roman 9.575, 6-Darian Burns 9.725, EX-McKenna Zimmermann 9.525.  Team total – 48.325.

NCAA WOMEN'S GYMNASTICS
Seattle Pacific-UC Davis Dual
Friday, Jan. 18, 2019
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
Team Scores
1, UC Davis, 195.225
2, Seattle Pacific, 192.625
 
All-Around
1, Kelley Hebert, UCD, 39.200
2, Darian Burns, SPU, 39.175
3, Gabby Landess, UCD, 39.050
4, Itzia San Roman, SPU, 38.175
 
Vault
1, Darian Burns, SPU, 9.800
2t, Kelley Hebert, UCD, 9.775
2t, Alyssa Ito, UCD, 9.775
4, Camille Johnson, UCD, 9.750
5, Itzia San Roman, SPU, 9.725
6, Gabby Landess, UCD, 9.700
 
Uneven Bars
1, Aya Suzuki, UCD, 9.850
2t, Darian Burns, SPU, 9.825
2t, Gabby Landess, UCD, 9.825
4, Sarah Liddle, UCD, 9.775
5, Kyla Kessler, UCD, 9.750
6, Kelley Hebert, UCD, 9.725
 
Balance Beam
1, Sarah Liddle, UCD, 9.850
2t, Darian Burns, SPU, 9.825
2t, Kelley Hebert, UCD, 9.825
4t, Miyuki Matsune, SPU, 9.800
4t, Aya Suzuki, UCD, 9.800
4t, Alyssa Ito, UCD, 9.800
4t, Yasmine Yektaparast, UCD, 9.800
4t, Gabby Landess, UCD, 9.800
 
Floor Exercise
1, Kelley Hebert, UCD, 9.875
2, Kayla Chan, SPU, 9.750
3t, Darian Burns, SPU, 9.725
3t, Gabby Landess, UCD, 9.725
5, Yasmine Yektaparast, UCD, 9.700
6, Sarah Liddle, UCD, 9.675
 
 
Next SPU Meet
Seattle Pacific at San Jose State (with Air Force, Alaska Anchorage)
Friday, Jan. 25, 7:00 p.m. PST
The Event Center / San Jose, Calif.