En route to turning in its highest score of the season Saturday night, the men's gymnastics team received a scare during its meet against Temple and Navy in Philadelphia.

After three events, the Lions (6-0) appeared to be heading toward a possible 275 total, Coach Karl Schier said. But on the fourth event, the horizontal bar, freshman Wayne Cowden fell to the floor, bringing the 275 with him.

Cowden injured his neck and did not complete the competition. The extent of the injury is unknown, but Schier said that he does not expect it to be too serious.

"He's still in a neck brace and it's pretty stiff now," Schier said. "It's similar to an injury that (former gymnast) Spider Maxwell had. He was never quite the same afterwards, but we don't think Wayne's injury is anywhere near that bad."

Without Cowden in the team's lineup for the last three events, the final score dropped to 269.25. Although six points lower than what Schier had been anticipating, the score was still enough to edge Navy (265.65) and Temple (260.30).

With the win over Navy, the Lions can relax -- a little. In order to qualify for the NCAAs with an automatic bid, the Lions must outdistance Navy, their biggest competition among Eastern schools. However, the two teams will square off again Friday night at Rec Hall.

"I think if (Navy) believes that Cowden won't be back, they'll think that they have a pretty good shot at us," Schier said. "We'll still have a big meet on our hands (this) weekend. They are a very good team, they just didn't hit well. I was surprised they didn't do better and that they weren't hitting more."

In the all-around competition, sophomore Adam Carton got back on track after suffering his first loss of the season last weekend against New Mexico's Paul O'Neill. Carton took top honors with a 55.30, despite battling the flu all week.

With the exception of high bar, Carton's scores were all 9.20 or better. He fell off of the high bar, landing him with only an 8.45. Carton's best score, a 9.60 on rings, was good enough for a second place finish behind teammate Kurt Schier, 9.65. Schier's score was his career high on that apparatus.

Jamie Downer, who had previously fought off both a knee injury and the flu, finished third in the all-around with a 53.60.

"His first three events were great, the last three not so great," Schier said. "But at least we've got half the meet down. He looked 100 percent better."

Downer said that he's getting over the flu, and hopes to steadily improve with each meet.

"I was feeling a lot better, a lot stronger," he said. "I had to do it. I had to go out there and hit. I'm really pleased that I did. I feel a lot more confident now."

Junior Karl Abraham finished fourth (52.85) and freshman Mike Reichenbach, who had a break on high bar, finished fifth (51.75).

Both the younger Schier and sophomore Mark Sohn turned in their top performances of the season, the elder Schier said. Sohn claimed first place honors on his specialty, the pommel horse, with a 9.80. Although it was the second time that Sohn turned in that score, Schier said that it is much more difficult to do while on an away floor.

On the pommel horse, the Lions finished with a total of 45.25, two points higher than they had been scoring in earlier meets. They also managed to turn in top team performances on floor exercise (45.40) and rings (46.85).

"Except for the shock with Wayne's injury, we are doing extremely well," Schier said. "It would've been nice to score a 275, but I was pleased with what we did."

"It was just great," Downer said. "That was kind of a shock, with Wayne's injury. But Karl was next up on high bar, and he did a good job. That set the tempo again and really helped us out a lot."

"I wasn't really that concerned about my own scores," junior Rob Drass said. "I was just glad that we beat Navy. That's what really mattered."