The quest for an NCAA Championship begins this weekend for the men's gymnastics team at the Eastern Regionals at Ohio State. Now, all the talk and speculation get thrown out the window and it's down to business.

"It has been a long three-week break and the team hasn't been able to heal up as much as we'd like, but they will be up for the challenge," assistant coach Randy Jepson said. "Basically they have no choice, they have to be."

The regionals feature a 10-team field that includes Big Ten memebers Minnesota, Ohio State, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Michigan and Illinois. Temple, Syracuse and the Lions fill out the rest of the field. The top four finishers will qualify for the nationals, to be held at Rec Hall on April 18-20.

Heading into the competition, Minnesota takes the top ranking in the region and a No. 4 ranking in the country. The Gophers rank just .45 ahead of No. 5 Penn State.

After a year that has featured injury on top of injury, the Gophers began putting it together with a first-place finish at the Big Ten Championships two weekends ago. Coach Fred Roethlisberger said his team has dropped a notch from the Big Ten meet -- again because of injuries.

"We're still not where we want to be health-wise or performance-wise," Roethlisberger said. "We're just gonna work what we can with the guys we have. We're counting on doing well enough that we'll be able to protect a few individuals."

Leading the Gophers will be Roethlisberger's son, John. He is the returning national champ in the all-around and is finally recovering from a broken foot suffered at the beginning of the year. He captured the all-around title at the Big Ten finals.

Ohio State coach Peter Kormann said Minnesota may be as good as any team in the country when healthy. Kormann's Buckeyes are no slouches themselves. Ranked seventh in the country, they posted a two point victory over the Lions earlier this year and also beat No. 6 Nebraska.

"We've had a fairly succesful year and we're just hopeful we can be in there and qualify," Kormann said. "This field looks strong and I don't see much of a gap between any of the teams. Hopefully we can make it to State College."

The Buckeyes feature a young team led by junior Rusty Schillinger, sophomore Jim Knopp and freshman Kip Simons. All should be good enough to get the Buckeyes into the nationals.

Penn State joins Ohio State and Minnesota at the top of the field. Coach Karl Schier said these three teams can be considered a little ahead of the rest and should qualify for NCAAs. The Lions' layoff has also given the team some extra practice time.

"Our goal is to win the meet, and we can do that if we do our routines right," Rich Briggs said. "If we win it, it tells everyone we're the top team in the East, and maybe one of the top two in the country."

The fourth spot will be a battle among the final seven teams. Amongst these, Temple and Wisconsin are ranked nationally at Nos. 10 and 11, respectively. Temple, however, will be without its top performer, Bill Roth. Roth was a serious threat for the all-around title before he blew out his knee during a meet a month ago. With his loss, Temple isn't expected to mount much of a challenge.

Wisconsin will battle Iowa and Michigan State for the other spot. Iowa placed third at the Big Ten Championships scoring over 278. Schier said the Hawkeyes were impressive with the talent they had competing on a neutral floor.

The Lions beat Iowa at Rec Hall earlier this year, 281.85-275.55. They also hosted Michigan State and won 283.55-274.80.

Six points separate the top of the field from the bottom of the field, showing the parity and strength of the teams. A first-place finish could give the Lions momentum and an added incentive.

The first-place finisher in the East during the odd years gets to choose which event it wants to begin with at nationals. This is important for getting a team off to a good start, Schier said. The Lions are accustomed to beginning on floor and also would consider beginning with their strongest event, rings. The strong start could give an early lift for the meet.

Jepson said the team is still suffering a few nagging injuries. Mike Reichenbach still hasn't recovered fully from a foot injury and his status on the floor exercise is day to day. Wayne Cowden is also suffering from some minor injuries and is being rested in practice.

"We're confident that we can place in the top four so we're kind of looking to protect ourselves a little bit," Jepson said. "After all, the important game is two weeks down the road."