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The Falcon   |   Volume 82, Issue 16

Published 3/02/11
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Shaky finale on Senior
Night

Freshman Kai Tindall performs the splits high above the
balance beam on Friday night. The Falcons head to California to compete against
University of California Davis on Friday.
Photo credit: HALEY LIBAK/The
Falcon.

Steigauf places first on floor exercise

By LIVIU BIRD, News
Writer

Published: March 2,
2011

Seattle Pacific’s final home gymnastics meet of the season could have been
likened to one of the dramatic films nominated for an Academy Award: high
scores, falls and even sentimental tears.

The meet started brightly enough for the Falcons, with freshman Kenley Memmel
setting a career-high on vault, scoring a 9.425. Junior Sherah Veron won the
event with a series of front tumbles and a stuck landing that earned a 9.675
from the judges.

In the end, SPU lost to Air Force by two-tenths of a point, 188.275 to
188.475. However, the scores ranked among both teams’ lowest of the season. The
meet played out almost as a battle to see which team could give its opponent the
win, head coach Laurel Tindall said.

“We had misses, they had misses … (It seemed) we were both trying really hard
to lose,” she said.

After the first event, SPU and Air Force were dead even at 47.675,
foreshadowing the night’s close finish. SPU’s next two events, however, did not
make it seem as if the meet would be won by such a small margin.

“This week, both beam and bars were weak,” Tindall said.

Half of the uneven bar routines scored below 9.200, and the crowd gasped
audibly when senior Betsy Snook failed to connect with the high bar once during
her routine, sending her face-first into the mat beneath her.

On the beam, junior Corrine Wise gave the Falcons some much-needed momentum
at the beginning of the lineup with a career-high, first-place score of 9.750.
However, the rest of the Falcons failed to maintain the momentum. Only the final
competitor, sophomore Stephanie Wagner, managed to stay on the beam the whole
time.

After three events, Air Force held a two-point lead over SPU, leaving the
Falcons with no margin for error in the floor exercise. SPU swept the top four
spots on the floor and ensured the seniors’ final home meet finished in dramatic
fashion.

However, those athletes in their final season turned out uncharacteristically
poor performances, Tindall said. That may have contributed to the Falcons’
lowest score since the opening weekend of the season, she said.

“I don’t think we did as well as we would have liked to do,” Snook said.

At the same time, the seniors could not stop themselves from getting caught
up in the emotion of Senior Night.

Senior Laura Willis happily celebrates with
teammates following her uneven bars score of 9.375 during Friday's
gymnastics meet against Air Force. Seattle Pacific's five senior athletes,
including Willis, were honored by teammates for their accomplishments over
the past four years at SPU. Photo credit: HALEY LIBAK/The
Falcon.

Senior Night ceremonies were held both before and after the meet to honor the
seniors, and emotions were running high before the meet even began.

“We have a great group of seniors. I wish they could have hit better in their
last home meet,” Tindall said. “I don’t think that they were able to just calm
themselves down and really have a good meet.”

In the ceremony before the meet, seniors Snook, Laura Willis, Bri Steigauf,
Jennifer Lehman and Anissa Madrid walked out onto the floor with their parents,
after the rest of the team had been introduced. Madrid, who was unable to
compete for the fourth straight week due to injury, had tears in her eyes by the
end of the ceremony.

“I can’t believe that (the end is) already here,” Snook said. “I can’t
believe that this is for me.”

However, Snook said she was still focusing on the future.

“As a team, we need to build upon what we’ve done and get the confidence to
just improve each meet,” Snook said. “This wasn’t our best; we can do a lot
better.”

Steigauf was the only senior to win an event on Senior Night, taking first
place in the floor exercise with a score of 9.725. Winning on Senior Night was
exciting, she said.

After the meet finished, the SPU seniors were honored again. Each athlete was
presented with a bouquet of flowers, a framed collage of pictures and a few
words from a teammate, broadcast over the speakers of Royal Brougham
Pavilion.

“All the girls said some wonderful things and I love my teammates,” Willis
said. “We had a great time.”

Willis said the team is excited to keep competing and keep moving toward
their ultimate goal – winning the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and USA
Gymnastics championships.

“We are really pumped,” Willis said. “We want to win, and that’s ultimately
what we’re competing for.”

SPU will be on the road this weekend, taking on University of California
Davis on Friday night. The Falcons will return to the Seattle area next weekend
for their regular-season finale at University of Washington. The MPSF meet will
be the following weekend.

Meet results:

Vault:

1. Sherah Veron, 9.675.

T-4. Samantha Taylor; Corrine Wise, 9.550.

8. Brittany Malone, 9.475.

T-9. Kenley Memmel, 9.425 (career high).

12. Jennifer Lehman, 9.000.

Team: 47.675.

Uneven bars:

2. Samantha Taylor, 9.625.

6. Texie Gregory, 9.450.

7. Laura Willis, 9.375.

10. Jennifer Lehman, 9.125.

11. Bryn Larson, 9.050.

12. Betsy Snook, 8.625.

Team: 46.625.

Balance beam:

1. Corrine Wise, 9.750 (career high).

3. Stephanie Wagner, 9.550.

7. Samantha Taylor, 8.975.

8. Brittany Malone, 8.825.

9. Texie Gregory, 8.725.

10. Kai Tindall, 8.625.

Team: 45.825.

Floor exercise:

1. Bri Steigauf, 9.725.

2. Sherah Veron, 9.675.

T-3. Stephanie Wagner; Aditi Kulkarni, 9.650.

7. Brittany Malone, 9.450.

10. Jennifer Lehman, 9.225.

Team: 48.150.

All-around:

No SPU all-around performers.

Teams:

1. Air Force, 188.475.

2. SPU, 188.275.

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