The SPU gymnastics team was missing a single piece of the puzzle last Friday night against Oregon State University (OSU) and Stanford University, two Division I and nationally ranked teams. The missing piece was on the balance beam, where only two Falcons were able to complete their routines without falling off.

Despite struggles on the beam, the Falcons finished in third place overall with a season-high 188.350.

Head coach Laurel Tindall said that four out of six women hit their floor routines, five out of six hit on the bar and vault routines, but on the beam, junior co-captain Brianna Schwartz and freshman Anissa Madrid were the only Falcons to hit. Tindall added that if the Falcons had done better on the beam, their score would have been over 190.

"I'm not sure what happened on beam. We've been hitting in practice. There was a huge, loud crowd there. Maybe it was nerves," Schwartz said. "What we tell everyone in practice is, when you fall, you can't get down on yourself. You have to shake it off and go to the next event and do the best you can do."

Freshman Jennifer Lehman said the crowd was loud, but that they were supportive of all three teams.

OSU's team, which is ranked No.11, won the meet with a score of 196.700. No. 9 Stanford took second place with their 196.375.

"We did OK everywhere except beam," Tindall said. "Our floor was much better. We did hit some routines a little better. It was a decent meet."

OSU's Jami Lanz placed first in the all-around competition, scoring a 39.425. Lanz won balance beam and tied for third with Stanford's Tabitha Yim, both achieving a score of 9.875. OSU won every event except on vault. Stanford's Liz Tricase took first with a 9.925. No Falcons finished in the top three in any event.

The Falcons' weakest event this season has been their floor exercise routines, but on Friday, it was their strongest event. The team score on floor was 47.400.

"We definitely practiced more endurance stuff," Schwartz said of their floor routines in practice. "After we did our routines, we had to do our last tumbling pass when we were tired."

Schwartz and Lehman both said that adrenaline helped the team in their routines, and that the team tried to go out and just have fun in this event.

Freshman Brianna Steigauf scored the highest on floor for the Falcons with a 9.800 while senior Ashley Domres and Lehman both scored season-highs at 9.650.

"We just kept trying to do the same thing," Tindall said. She mentioned that the women did a better job of landing on their feet and staying in bounds.

In addition to Steigauf's floor and vault routines, Tindall highlighted fifth-year senior Brianna Piedmonte's routine on floor. She said Piedmonte's routine was "much improved."

Tindall said the team is working on getting higher start values on vault. Madrid scored a 9.600 while Steigauf finished right on Madrid's tail with a 9.550.

Two seniors dominated the bars for the Falcons. Christie Chinaka earned a 9.575 while Domres landed a 9.650. Lehman said that these two women are "great role models with great attitudes," even when the going gets tough, and that they are consistent in their routines.

"The bar routines were pretty good. We hit our routines, though we didn't score as high as we want," Tindall said.

"We have so much potential on this team. They [coaches] do a really good job of encouraging us and showing us where we do well, but they also tell us where we need improvement," Schwartz said.

In previous seasons, the Falcons have automatically gone into post-season play, but that is not so this year, Schwartz said. She added that the team is working hard to get overall scores above 190 so that they have a better chance of moving on. Nationals are definitely on their minds at this point, both Schwartz and Lehman pointed out.

"I think our next meet will just be a time to go out there and show off to our friends and family," Lehman said.

The Falcons face the Air Force in their sixth meet of the season next Saturday at 7 p.m. in Royal Brough