The Falcon   |   Volume 83, Issue 53

Published 5/29/13   |   Log In

First home meet spoiled by Air Force

Air Force wins meet, Escarra takes all-around

By REBECCA MAGNENAT, Staff Reporter

Published: January 23, 2013

On Friday, the Falcons gymnastics team hosted Air Force Academy in its home opener at Royal Brougham Pavilion.

With the team looking forward to its first home meet of the season, expectations were high in the hopes of improving scores from last week’s loss at Sacramento State.

Students, family, and friends all made their way to Royal Brougham to cheer on the Falcons.

“It was awesome; we all love home meets because the crowd gets us pumped up,” sophomore Sydney Clark said.

Even head coach Laurel Tindall noticed the impact of the crowd.

“It was a great crowd, and that’s always important to us,” Tindall said.

The Falcons had at least one routine that scored in the top three for each event, including three first-place finishes by sophomore Shannon Escarra.

“It was our first home meet with everyone together. As a team, we grew through this meet, so it was definitely a good competition,” Escarra said in a press release.

SPU finished second place in the dual meet, ending with 189.425 points, just shy of Air Force Academy’s 190.100 points.

“We stepped up on some things, but we struggled on the beam,” said Tindall.

Though the Falcons didn’t win, Escarra amassed 38.600 points, granting her first place in the all-around competition. This includes improvements from last week in three of her four events – vault, beam and the floor exercise. However, Escarra was not the only Falcon to increase her scores.

Improvement came in every event. On the vault: junior Kenley Memmel and senior Corrine Wise; floor exercise: Clark, Memmel and junior Kai Tindall; uneven bars: junior Bryn Larson and senior Stephanie Wagner; balance beam: Wise.

SPU’s strongest event of the meet, the floor exercise, garnered the top three finishing spots. Escarra finished first, followed by Memmel and Clark. All three of them scored higher than a 9.7.

“Our focus [is] to get the lineup that will really hit. We have eight or nine girls for each event that can be competitive,” coach Tindall said.

With two more chances to compete against Air Force Academy this season, the Falcons will have more opportunities to face this conference rival.

“The Air Force meet is always a good rivalry; they are in the same nationals and conference,” junior Kai Tindall said.

The Falcons will have another chance to face conference competitors this weekend as they travel to Alaska Anchorage for two consecutive meets.

“With back to back meets, we will have a chance to fix little mistakes,” Clark said.

It’s onward and upward for the Falcons as they look to bring home their first team win of the season in Alaska.

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