In order to improve, it is sometimes necessary to take risks. For gymnast Jim Delaney, taking a chance on the horizontal bar paid off this weekend.

After having a "terrible" warm up, Delaney was apprehensive about doing his second release on the bar. But he hit his first one and decided it was risk worth taking. In Delaney's case, the risk was worth a 9.75 score.

"That's the highest score of my career," he said. "I've been working towards that routine for almost two years. I want to put another release in there down the road --so I'll have three."

Gymnasts like Delaney make it look easy. His face remained emotionless. His concentration was unbreakable. The crowd was silent, but captivated, until he stuck his dismount. Only then did Delaney show the elation that he was feeling.

Delaney was not the only Lions' star on the horizontal bar. Teammates Brandy Wood and Tom Ellefson tied for second place, each earning a score of 9.6.

For the second straight week, the Lions swept the horizontal bar. This time en route to their 277.75-268.25 victory over Temple on Saturday.

Ellefson did have a little trouble on high bar with the new dismount he used, but it isn't a problem he can't fix.

"That will get ironed out," the freshman said. "My score still counted, so I'm not too upset about anything. I'm real happy my routines are starting to get solid."

Dave Riordan contributed four solid routines of his own. He placed in the top four on three events -- the floor exercise, vault, pommel horse and rings. However, Riordan is his own toughest critic. He expects nothing less than perfection from himself.

"In the gym, when I miss a routine, I just get mad," the junior said. "I just don't think I should ever miss a routine -- ever."

But on Saturday, every routine was not perfect. The pommel horse continued to be an event that the Lions need to improve. Junior Lee Ricketts, who was competing in his first Rec Hall meet, was unable to focus on his routine.

"It's more people than I get in England, and I was just pretty scared to start pommel horse," he said.

After overcoming his nervousness, Ricketts contributed solid performances on rings, vault and horizontal bar.

With many gymnasts contributing solid routines, Coach Randy Jepson is confident in his team's ability.

"We've never put any limitations on them, hoping that they'll reach as far as they can," he said. "I think that they're starting to realize that they can probably compete with anybody."