The tournament of champions lived up to its billing Friday night when the men's gymnastics team downed a diminished New Mexico team, 266.95-133.30.

Despite a Lobos lineup of only five gymnasts, the competition was exciting. Three 1988 NCAA National Champions displayed their talents and proved that their titles were indeed earned.

For the Lions (4-0) Mark Sohn, the co-champion on pommel horse, turned in a 9.80; the same score that earned him his title. The sophomore has improved his score each meet from a 9.55 to a 9.65 and finally to the 9.80.

Chad Fox and Paul O'Neill led the way for the Lobos (0-1). Fox, a three-time titlist on vault and a one-time winner on floor exercise, scored a 9.80 on both events. His vault consisted of a front somersault in mid-air before even touching the horse.

"That vault is so rare," Coach Karl Schier said. "I've never seen it done in a university setting at all by anyone. I may have only seen it done once internationally.

"And his floor routine is just scintillating. It's a beautiful thing. He's quite a talent."

Fox capped off his evening by winning the Gene Wettstone Award, given after each home meet to a gymnast whose performance is extraordinary that evening.

"I'm really glad to be competing at Penn State," Fox said. "It's a really good crowd. They appreciate good gymnastics.

"I was shocked to be given that award. I didn't expect it all and I'm really kind of honored."

O'Neill, a two-time winner on rings, finished the evening with a 9.85 on that apparatus. O'Neill also took the all-around title away from Penn State's Adam Carton, 55.70-54.70.

Although Carton did not win the all-around, he did manage to prove himself ready for serious consideration for All-American status. The sophomore finished his still ring routine with a triple flyaway dismount. It was the first triple ever done off of that apparatus in Rec Hall history.

"We didn't think he was going to be able to do his triple," Schier said. "As it turned out he didn't quite land it. It was more like two and 7/8, but at least it's finally incorporated in his mind and in his program."

Carton scored well on every event except for horizontal bar. In that event, he missed a release move and was deducted to a 7.95.

"I'm just happy I didn't die tonight," Carton said. "I didn't work on the ring dismount at practice that much but I felt good enough to do it. With the high bar, things just weren't going well at the end of the meet for me."

Junior Karl Abraham finished third behind Carton in the all-around with a 52.65. Abraham finished the evening with a 9.20 on high bar, good for second place on that event.

"I was a bit disappointed because I was tired at the end of my routines," he said. "But I'm glad I did as well as I did especially coming on strong on the high bar. It was good to do that."

Overall, the Lions' team score was not as high as their score last week against East Stroudsburg and Southern Connecticut, but both coach and gymnasts found a lot of positive points out of the night.

"What I liked about the meet most was that people were incorporating new moves that were brought into the system just this week," Schier said. "That does build well for us. Eventually they'll be done better and they'll be able to handle everything."

On the individual level, Schier can find pleasure in the fact that two freshmen, Wayne Cowden and Mike Reichenbach, improved their routines. Cowden jumped from a 50.70 all-around score to a 52.10. Cowden even took top honors on the high bar with a 9.35.

Reichenbach finished the all-around with a fourth-place 52.35. He also turned in a 9.2 and 9.45 on rings and vault, respectively.

Team captain Kurt Schier, who scored a 9.45 on rings, said that the meet will help better prepare them for the upcoming season.

"We know what we have to do now," he said. "The problems we had are re-occurring ones. Basically, it's our dismounts and strength. We know exactly what we have to do to beat Navy next week. We didn't do as well as we should have, but we learned a lot."

The absence of a team competition may have detracted from some of the intensity for the Lions, the elder Schier noted. Because the Lobos only had four men at most on any event, the Lions knew that they would be able to come away with an easy win.

"If we're going to have this kind of a meet with a lot of breaks, this was the meet to have it," Schier said. "They're up against a non-team team so that takes a little bit of a competitive edge of us so I can explain a little bit of the faults that way."

On the other hand, the Lobos, short of gymnasts or not, were a good lesson for the young Lions.

"New Mexico was super on the individual events," Abraham said. "It was good for us too see these guys compete because now we all know what kind of talent we're going to be up against when the NCAAs come along."