Seattle Pacific University scored 189.200 last week in Sacramento even with sophomore Miyuki Matsune competing with a broken left hand.
Miyuki Matsune placed fourth on the balance beam Friday, while teammate Darian Burns was fifth in the all-around and seventh on the vault for the Seattle Pacific gymnasts in a third-place team result at the Sacramento State Triangular.
Matsune earned a career-high score of 9.800 on the beam, improving upon the 9.775 she posted last week. The SPU sophomore executed a routine without using her left arm, which is heavily bandaged due to a broken hand.
All of the skills in her routine that require a hand are performed with only her right arm.
“Luckily we have been able to put together a full value routine for her using only one hand,” said the head coach Laurel Tindall. “She is our top returning beam performed and continues to do well despite competing with a broken hand”
The sophomore has competed all season long and has steadily increased her scores.
“There was no question of whether she would compete,” Tindall said about Matsune. “She does solid routines in practice every day.” Along with Matsune, the other top competitors in the meet were, first, San Roman turned in the team’s top floor score from the No. 5 spot with a mark of 9.650.
Second, Burns topped the team for the third time this season on the vault with a 9.750 and the third and final event was led by Freshman Shelbi Spivey who was able to produced the season-high mark for a Falcon on the bars, with her score of 9.625.
Although Autumn Huskie was unable to lead the team with her vault score she did earn herself a personal best mark of 9.675. She was .095 of tying with the top vault performer on her team, Burns.
“Autumn did a great job on her vault because performing in an unfamiliar situation is something she has struggled with in the past,” Tindall said.
Huskie and the rest of the team will be on their way back home as their first home meet since January hits the teams schedule.
The Falcons will face Sacramento state again and Alaska Anchorage on Friday, Feb. 3.
“We are looking forward to being back home next week. Three weeks away in a row have been difficult,” Tindall said.
