Despite illnesses, injuries and other bumps and bruises, the men's gymnastics team rallied Friday night to turn in its highest score of the season. The No. 8 Lions downed perennial eastern rival Navy, 275.95-269.10.

Competing with two previously injured gymnasts, Kurt Schier (Achilles tendon) and Wayne Cowden (neck injury), and two recent flu victims, Adam Carton and Jamie Downer, the Lions (7-0) still managed to jump six points from last week's 269.25.

"I was hoping to get over a 270," Coach Karl Schier said. "On my sheet, my little black book, I have written 276 and we went 275.95. I didn't really expect to get a 276. I was looking for something in the 270s, really."

While the Lions have continually said that they are capable of scoring much higher, it's taken five meets to get their scores where they think they belong.

"This is the first time that Penn State has actually competed like a Penn State team," team captain Kurt Schier said. "This is what I've been trying to convey to everyone. This is what blue and white means."

Of the six events, the Midshipmen (4-2) could only claim the vault title from the Lions, 45.25-44.90. On that event, both Cowden (8.35) and Downer (8.5) could not stick their landings. The highest score for the team was Carton's 9.3, good enough for first.

Although they could not win all six events, the Lions did sweep the all-around. Carton (56.95) finished first with Mike Reichenbach (54.55), Downer (54.30), Karl Abraham (54.00) and Cowden (53.95) taking the remaining top spots.

Not only did Carton win the all-around, he took top honors in five of the six events. The sophomore finished first on floor exercise (9.45), rings (9.6), vault (9.3), parallel bars (9.45) and high bar (9.55).

"Adam's all-around was just superb," Schier said. "It looked like a 57 to me. Of course, just like the team he was just five-hundreths off of his goal. Hopefully, it'll just make him that much hungrier the next time out."

Carton, who has been battling the flu for two weeks, was just happy to hit all six routines.

"There were a lot of little mistakes because of bad training that I have to get cleaned up," he said. "But the strength was there to make it on all six events."

The only event on which Carton could not nab the No. 1 spot was the pommel horse, where teammate Mark Sohn continued to prove himself worthy of his 1988 National Championship. Sohn, who scored a 9.8, has won that event in every meet this year and has scored a 9.8 in three consecutive meets, placing him again first in the nation.

For his efforts, Sohn was awarded the Gene Wettstone Award, given to the gymnast with the most inspiring routine of the evening.

Sohn, however, was not the only one who turned in an inspired performance. Reichenbach, who had said before the meet that he hoped to enter the 54 range in the all-around, achieved that goal and another one as well.

The freshman scored an a career-high 8.6 on pommel horse. Although not generally considered a high score, for Reichenbach, it equates to a 10.

"The pommel horse made my entire meet," he said. "This is the first time this year that I've stayed on and made it through the whole set."

Cowden, who suffered a neck injury last weekend and was questionable for the Lions, managed not only to compete, but to score his highest all-around total of the year. The freshman tied Schier for second on rings (9.4) and tied Abraham for the same place on high bar (9.4) while finishing third on floor and pommel horse, earning a 9.1 on both events.

"Wayne's comeback from a really traumatic, potentially life-threatening injury was just excellent," the elder Schier said. "Especially on the last event, the high bar, which had to be on his mind most of the night, it was just great to see."

Over the past two meets, Downer has also made a great comeback -- from both a knee injury from the fall and more recently, the flu.

"Last weekend I scored a 53.60 and I was pretty pleased about that," the sophomore said. "I knew I was on my way back. I didn't quite know what to expect from this meet. I'm pretty excited. I still have some improvement to make, vault naturally, and just some tidying up here and there."

This win has given the Lions an almost-assured place in the NCAAs and has also prepared them for what proves to be their biggest challenge of the season to date. Saturday night, the team will travel to Ohio State to take on the Buckeyes, presently the No. 1 team in the nation.