Injuries. They hurt more than just the athletes who are forced to suffer their debilitating effects. A team, dependent on its members to consistently perform at their optimum level, can go from top-of-the-heap to run-of-the-mill without its key performers.

And this season, the men's gymnastics team almost suffered that fate. As the season opener approached, the Lions were faced with several big question marks.

Adam Carton, who won gold medals on both the vault and rings in last year's NCAA Championships, had off-season surgery to repair a torn labrum in his shoulder. Despite comprehensive rehabilitation after the operation, his availability for the season was uncertain before the shoulder was tested.

Jim Delaney, one of the team's most promising all-arounders, was sidelined for the 1991 season by a hand injury. He had to have surgery to repair damaged tendons in his middle and index fingers and even after rehabilitation he wasn't able to return for postseason action.

Juniors Mike Masucci and Doug Wilson, both suffering from nagging back and shoulder problems, were struggling to overcome the setbacks. Masucci was one of the team's most consistent performers last season and Wilson, in his only competition of the year, stepped in at NCAA Regionals to score a 9.65 on rings and a 9.45 on vault.

But Penn State also had to deal with other quite unexpected dilemmas, namely, what happens when two top reserves are lost?

Sophomore Tabor Cowden, younger brother of Lion gymnast Wayne Cowden and one of Penn State's most promising future performers, injured his neck early in the season. He was sidelined for the entire season after he fell during practice and had an operation to fuse two damaged vertebrae.

The Lions also had to contend with more than simply physical problems. Armando Gonzalez, a sophomore from Puerto Rico, was forced off the squad before the season started because of academic problems, leaving the Lions desperately lacking any substantive depth.

"We were looking at losing only seven routines from last year with the graduation of Mark Sohn and Jamie Downer, but when we lost Armando and Tabor we lost about 40 percent of our routines," Coach Randy Jepson said. "What looked to be a strong squad was really depleted."

Things didn't improve much once the season began.

Wayne Cowden, runner-up on the rings in last year's NCAA Championships, injured his back early in the season and couldn't compete in the all-around for three weeks.

Mike Reichenbach, currently ranked second in the nation on rings, injured his ankle after the season-opening West Point Open. He missed the Navy Invitational later that month, competed in only four events against Kent State the following week and is still bothered by the injury.

Delaney, who at the time had the team's third-best all-around score, dislocated his shoulder in practice the week before the Kent State meet and has yet to compete in all six events. He has been limited to pommel horse and vault for most of the season and has only recently begun competing on the horizontal bar.

So what does a coach do to keep his team performing consistently when it must constantly contend with damaging injuries?

"You've got to take these things day to day and train more judiciously," Jepson said. "If someone has a problem, he can't be pushed as much in the gym because you don't want to make things more severe.

"If you get beat up in practice, you get worn down and don't perform as well in the meets. But the guys handled it really well. They know their capabilities and they know what's expected of them."

Jepson's stop-gap measures have apparently been effective, as the Lions, who finished second in the nation last season, have worked themselves from the ranks of the also-rans up to fourth place a week ago. After last week's Big Ten Championships, they slid back to their current sixth-place ranking.

And with Eastern Regionals, Penn State's ticket to its 15th-consecutive NCAA Championships, drawing near, the Lions have run out of time to concern themselves with injuries.

"We're getting to the end of the season, and we're getting in better shape," Reichenbach said. "We're putting in less routines, but we're concentrating on doing the ones we are doing better. We've still got some aches and pains, but hopefully they'll heal."