Led by senior co-captain April Polito, the Lady Lion gymnastics team floored the competition at the Fifth Annual Hobie's Classic yesterday -- both literally and figuratively.

The No. 9 Lady Lions, now 9-5, captured the top spot among the four teams at the Classic by dominating all four events -- especially the floor exercise.

On floor, Polito finished first with a 9.7, junior Tracy Kerner grabbed second with a 9.65 and sophomore Bridget Foley finished tied for third with a 9.6. The Penn State team score was tops on the other three events, and each first-place individual finisher was also a Lady Lion.

Actually, each event winner was either Polito or Foley. Foley won bars and beam with a 9.8 and a 9.725, respectively, and Polito captured the gold on vault with a 9.825 and led the 11 all-arounders with a score of 38.00. Junior Kerry Slattery -- the only other Happy Valleyite to compete in all four events -- took eighth with a 36.9.

With a winning score of 190.925, the Lady Lions easily outdistanced host Michigan State (187.800) and Central Michigan (186.450), but were probably happiest about crushing New Hampshire, which had just 185.675 points. No. 20 New Hampshire handed Penn State an early-season loss in Rec Hall -- in the Lady Lions' only home quad-meet of the season.

Although the Lady Lions picked up three wins, the best sign for them yesterday may have been the performance of freshman Sharon Barbato. Barbato, who has battled chronic shoulder tendonitis this season, made her first competitive appearance of the year and finished third among the meet's 24 beam competitiors, with a 9.6 score.

Barbato and her Lady Lion counterparts continue their globetrotting and party-hopping Friday, when they take on five teams in the Shanico Invitational at Oregon State.