The NCAA Men's Gymnastics Championships will return to Rec Hall for the first time in eight years this spring when Penn State hosts the event April 18-20. The Championships will feature the top eight teams in the country including 30 expected Olympians from various countries for the 1992 games, Coach Karl Schier said.

"This is an event that happens once about every 10 years in this area and it is going to be a fantastic competition," Schier said.

Penn State last hosted the NCAAs in 1983 and is the only Eastern university to recently host the event. Former Lion coach Gene Wettstone, who won eight team championships while at Penn State, is organizing the event and said that Penn State has a reputation for pagentry and running a meet well.

"We do a good job when we run the meets and I think it shows that we are dedicated to the task," Wettstone said. "This showed at the Eastern regionals last year and that helped us get the bid."

Bids to host the finals, which are based on predicted financial earnings, were placed at last years championships at Minnesota. Penn State received the bid over defending team champion Nebraska by the NCAA Rules Committee.

"It was kind of interesting that we received the bid because Rec Hall is small, which limits our crowds," assistant coach Randy Jepson said. "But we have always drawn well here and Nebraska hasn't drawn well, so I think that helped us out with our bid."

Schier said that most other arenas at the top schools are double the size of Rec Hall but they can't draw the crowds that Penn State has traditionaly drawn. Schier cited last year's championships where Minnesota drew poor crowds all three nights.

"Their guys got out there the first night expecting a large crowd for support and they got a shock," Schier said. "By the end of the meet, I think the crowd was actually a detriment to them instead of an advantage."

Minnesota and Nebraska battled neck-in-neck for the team title last year and the Golden Gophers ended up losing by one-tenth of a point on their home floor.

"I think Minnesota would have won if they had a better crowd," Jepson said. "You never know what is going to happen when a crowd gets behind a team. This is a subjective sport and the crowd can effect the judges."

"It's definitely a tremendous advantage to have the home crowd behind you," pommel horse specialist Mark Sohn said.

Sohn is part of a team that Schier considers one of his best ever and he hopes hosting the event will give his team an added boost at nationals. He expects a strong East coast and Mid-East following along with a good local crowd.

"Out of this whole thing, the most important thing is a good crowd on Thursday night for the pre-lims," Schier said. "It will be easier for the out-of town people to come to the Friday and Saturday meets."

The NCAA sets minimum requirements for student ticket prices and Penn State has kept ticket prices at these minimum requirements. Single session tickets will not be available until March 1 but series tickets for all three nights are available now at $24 for adults and $10 for students and youths. For further information contact the Athletic Ticket Office at Beaver Stadium.