Even before the plane left State College, the men's gymnastics team knew it was going to have problems against the University of Iowa.

Senior Karl Abraham stayed home because he had an infected tooth pulled on Wednesday. To replace him, freshman Raul Bonet was yanked out of bed at 6:15 Thursday morning, just 50 minutes before the plane was scheduled to leave.

Consequently, away from home for the first time of the season and competing without a full lineup, the Lions (3-1) fell to Iowa, 278.80-272.10 Friday night. It was the Lions' first loss of the season and first loss ever at Iowa.

"I think it was a little too much to ask of (Bonet)," Coach Karl Schier said. "It was quite a shock for him and for all of us. We knew we were going to have an uphill battle against Iowa anyway, and even before we left the ground, we knew we had a flawed lineup."

Considering all of the setbacks, Schier was happy with his team's performance, but disappointed with the scoring margin. Just one week ago, the Lions scored a 274.45 in Rec Hall while the Hawkeyes' highest score prior to Friday night had been a 271.

Iowa did have some added incentive -- Coach Tom Dunn, a former Penn State gymnast, recorded his 100th career win in just 10 years with the Hawkeyes.

Despite the problems, some Lions did perform well. Mark Sohn won the pommel horse for the third time in as many meets with a 9.55.

"He did have a little flaw on his dismount again," Schier said. "But that just shows the difference in scoring. Last week that same kind of performance earned him a 9.9 at Penn State."

Sophomore Wayne Cowden finished second in the all-around with a 55.20, losing by only .20 to former U.S. National Team member Jeff Dow. Freshman Mike Masucci took fourth with a 54.70.

"I'm very pleased with Wayne competing against Dow like he did," Schier said. "Dow's the former national champion on high bar and Wayne just keeps creeping up on all of the top gymnasts all the time."

After shaking the sleepers out of his eyes, Bonet worked three events for the Lions. His best score was an 8.65 on rings. Yet, the absence of Abraham was evident. Bonet could only muster a 7.65 on pommel horse and a 7.5 on parallel bars.

Another freshman, Jacob Wan, filled Abraham's spot on floor exercise (8.7) and vault (8.65).

"Karl is our best vaulter, and we ended up throwing out Wan's score," Schier said. "From a coaching point of view, not a scoring point of view, I think they did quite well. It was very difficult for them and they did the best they could."

To qualify for NCAA regionals, the Lions will have to turn in a season average score. Part of that average must include three away scores. Schier said that in the end this meet probably won't hurt the team.

"This should be a meet we can count," he said. "A 272 should stand up pretty well against other Eastern teams.

"Iowa was competing with three seniors on their squad and we came out here with none. They had a real hot meet. So, I'm pleased we hung in there as well as we did."