Spring break: a time to sit back, relax and take a well-deserved break from the stringent demands and hectic pace of the first eight weeks of classes. Whether spent on a beach, a ski slope or a couch, Spring Break is arguably the most important time of year for burned out college students.

But while several thousand Penn State students make the long drive out of the Happy Valley to somewhat warmer climes, the men's gymnastics team will be spending its break at venues rarely confused with the more traditional tourist traps.

Destination: the great midwest, with stops in Iowa City, East Lansing and Ann Arbor.

The sixth-ranked Lions hit the road, or more appropriately, take to the air, tomorrow morning and head to Iowa City, home of the No. 7 Iowa Hawkeyes, for the first stop on their weeklong foray into the Big Ten. The following weekend, Penn State makes the trip to East Lansing for a Friday night match with No. 6 Michigan State and a meet the following night against top 15 foe Michigan.

"We're really looking forward to this week," Mike Reichenbach said. "We have a really good opportunity to get on some away floors and get a good look at some of the schools we'll be seeing in upcoming weeks. This should be a good warmup for Big Tens, regionals and nationals."

Penn State is coming off its best score of the season, a 281.95 against No. 9 Temple last weekend in Rec Hall. The Lions have improved their score every meet this season, and are within a half-point of No. 5 BYU, which comes to Penn State March 21.

Adam Carton was ranked fifth last week in the all-around with a 57.17 average and Mike Masucci is ranked eighth with a 56.95. Iowa's top-ranked all-arounder is Chris Kabat, whose 56.0 leaves him in 19th place. Neither Michigan State nor Michigan have any all-arounders in the Top 20.

The Lions, beset by score-limiting injuries since January, seem to be getting healthier. Jim Delaney, one of the team's top all-arounders who separated his shoulder in practice several weeks ago, is regaining his strength but will still be kept from entering all six events. Reichenbach, who has been bothered by ankle problems all season, is beginning to heal and continues to improve his performances.

Penn State continues to maintain its top ranking on the rings. After a season-high 48.8 against Illinois two weeks ago, the Lions put up a 48.6 last week behind strong performances by No. 2 Reichenbach, fourth-ranked Adam Carton and No. 5 Wayne Cowden.

Iowa is ranked seventh on rings, Michigan State is 13th and Michigan is 17th, but Iowa's Chip Greaves, who is tied with Penn State team captain Rich Briggs for 15th place, is the only gymnast from the three teams ranked in the Top 20.

"We haven't seen these teams, so we're not really sure what to expect," Carton said. "On paper, we're a better team, so I'm pretty confident we can beat them. If we hit, I'm sure we can win all three meets, but we might have trouble with the back-to-back meets."