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USA GYMNASTICS WOMEN'S COLLEGIATE CHAMPIONSHIPS
Wheeler Recreation Center / Bridgeport, Conn.
• Webcast & live scoring links: https://ubknights.com/sports/wgym/2018-19/releases/20190404hoafyd
 
FRIDAY, APRIL 12
Team Semifinal & All-Around Final Session 1,  11:00 a.m. PDT (2 p.m. EDT)
Team Semifinal & All-Around Final Session 2,  4:00 p.m. PDT (7 p.m. EDT)
 
SATURDAY, APRIL 13
Team Final, 4:00 p.m. PDT (7 p.m. EDT)
 
SUNDAY, APRIL 14
Individual Event Finals, 10:00 a.m. PDT (1 p.m. EDT)
 
Eight Seattle Pacific gymnasts, including 2018 national all-around silver medalist Darian Burns, will compete this weekend as at-large entries in the USA Gymnastics Women's Collegiate Championships in the final meet for 44th-year coach Laurel Tindall. The three-day national meet is set for Friday through Sunday, April 12-14 in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Burns and McKenna Zimmermann will represent SPU in all four events, competing for the all-around title along with individuals from the eight qualifying teams. Six other Falcons qualified for individual events, including Jadacie Durst on the vault, uneven bars and floor exercise. The other Falcons qualifiers are Kayla Chan (floor), Miyuki Matsune (beam), Kylie Reese (floor), Itzia San Roman (bars) and Lena Wirth (vault). Half of the eight SPU nationals qualifiers are underclassmen with one freshman and three sophomores, and only one is a senior (San Roman). The three-time national champion Falcons (1986, 1992, 1997) failed to qualify as a team for just the third time in 38 years. Bridgeport will host the championships and Lindenwood is the top seed.
 
Falcons Fast Fact
SPU gymnasts have won 32 individual national championships and 10 of them came in the last five years.
 
Darian  Burns
Junior Darian Burns (Decatur, Ga.) owns the Falcons' top score in all four events and the all-around. She nabbed seven event victories this season and twice topped the all-around field. Her four-event total of 39.175 on Jan. 18 is tied for the fifth-highest mark in school history. Burns is a six-time USAGym All-American, the 2017 national floor exercise champion as well as the 2018 all-around runner-up and sixth-place bars finisher. She is ranked 11th nationally in the all-around and 10th on the floor.
 
Kayla  Chan
Freshman Kayla Chan (Santa Clarita, Calif.) will compete on the floor where she has been extremely consistent. She never scored below 9.525 with a high of 9.750.
 
Jadacie  Durst
Sophomore Jadacie Durst (Sparks, Nev.) is an at-large qualifier for three events. She established new career-high marks this year on the vault (9.725), bars (9.625) and floor (9.750). Durst added vault and bars after only competing floor as a freshman.
 
Miyuki  Matsune
Junior Miyuki Matsune (West Covina, Calif.) will compete on the beam and she tied for fifth on that apparatus at the March 24 conference championships with a score of 9.725. She scored 9.825 at last year's nationals, but narrowly missed qualifying for event finals. Matsune achieved that lofty score in 2018 despite competing using only her right arm due to a broken bone on her left hand. She is healthy this season.
 
Kylie  Reese
SPU sophomore Kylie Reese (Eugene, Ore.) qualified on the floor and she tied for eight in that event at the MPSF championships with a career-high score of 9.800.
 
Itzia  San Roman
A senior, Itzia San Roman (Burnaby, B.C.) boasts a career-high 9.725 and season-best 9.650 bars mark. A mid-season injury kept her out of the all-around after she tied for 10th at last year's USAGym meet with a four-event total of 38.125.
 
Lena  Wirth
Junior Lena Wirth (Roseville, Calif.) will compete on the vault and she tied for sixth on that apparatus at the March 23 conference championships with a career-high score of 9.775. She scored 9.625 on vault at last year's nationals
 
McKenna  Zimmermann
Sophomore McKenna Zimmermann (San Jose, Calif.) seeks to improve upon last year's 13th-place all-around result at nationals (37.800). Her career-best total is 38.800 and season-high is 38.600. Zimmermann was the Falcons top all-around performer twice this year and ranks No. 15 nationally.


 
Tindall's Final Meet
This weekend's championships will be the last meet as the Seattle Pacific coach for Laurel Tindall, who retires in July. She served as head coach for 44 years, since taking over in 1976. Tindall's teams won national championships in 1986, 1992, and 1997. From 1984 to 2003, SPU had a run of 20 consecutive top-four national finishes. Under her guidance, Falcons athletes have won 30 individual national championships, including her daughter, Kai, on the floor in 2017. Maria Hundley collected seven titles from 2014-16. Tindall first came to campus in the fall of 1973, transferring from Washington. At the time, she was still Laurel Anderson, and the school was still Seattle Pacific College (becoming SPU in 1977). During her two years as a competitor for the Falcons (1974 and 1975), she earned six All-American awards, and tied for the national vault championship as a senior in 1975. She also collected four All-American honors and a national vault title during her time at the UW. Tindall was a member of the U.S. national team in 1974. She has been named national Coach of the Year four times, and, in 2003, was a charter member of the Falcon Hall of Fame.

 

USAGym Format
Eight teams and 34 at-large qualifying gymnasts, six of them all-arounders, will contend for team, all-around and individual national titles. The team semifinals and all-around finals will be conducted in two separate sessions, taking place on Friday, April 12. Friday's top-five scoring gymnasts in every event, including ties, from each team session will qualify for the individual event finals that will be contested on Sunday, April 14 at 10 a.m. PDT. The four-team finals are set for Saturday, April 13. The collegiate championships include NCAA Division II members and Division I schools that choose to adhere to the limit of 7-1/2 scholarships.
 
2018 USAGym Recap
Four Falcons earned All-America acclaim in five categories at last year's USA Gymnastics Championships, including Darian Burns, who was the all-around silver medalist with a four-event total of 39.100. Burns tied for sixth on the uneven bars with a score of 9.775. Seattle Pacific did not qualify as a team in 2018, but seven Falcons received at-large berths. Itzia San Roman tied for 10th in the all-around (38.125) and McKenna Zimmermann was 13th (37.800). SPU's Autumn Huskie advanced to the vault finals where she placed ninth (9.7375). The other Falcons nationals participants were Sienna Brane on the bars (9.100), Miyuki Matsune on the beam (9.825) and Lena Wirth on both the vault (9.625) and beam (9.725).
 
Gym Shorts
Darian Burns reached the 39-point all-around milestone four times during her career with a high of 39.175 on Jan. 18, 2019 that is tied for fifth among all-time Falcons ... Nine different gymnasts have been SPU's leading scorer in an event this year and three gymnasts have been the top all-arounder ... SPU surpassed the 192-point mark six times and five of them came in home meets ... Ten states and three countries (USA, Canada, Iceland) are represented on the 19-gymnast roster. Seven are from California and only one from Washington (Sienna Brane).