It might have been hard to notice Penn State freshman Tom Ellefson at the Big Ten Men's Gymnastics Championship Saturday. With two Ohio State freshmen placing one and two in the all-around, it might have been hard for Ellefson to get a word in edge-wise, so to speak.

Buckeye freshmen Drew Durbin and Blaine Wilson walked away with the top two spots in the all-around competition as Ohio State swept the top four all-around positions overall. The top Lion all-arounder was sophomore Tony Pansy, who finished eighth with a score of 55.8.

With performances like that, it was no wonder Coach Peter Kormann and company ran away with the Big Ten Title for the second consecutive year, bettering second-place Iowa (280.6) by more than six points, with a Big Ten Championship-record team score of 286.975.

Falling just short of Iowa, with its second-highest score of the year was Penn State (279.125). Rounding out the field were Minnesota (276.25), Michigan (274.55), Illinois (274.525) and Michigan State (270.6).

But even amid the Ohio State freshman stars, Ellefson never lost his luster. The freshman led the high bar competition on Saturday and finished sixth in the individual finals yesterday. Ellefson also placed fifth on the parallel bars in the event finals.

Other Lion bright spots were junior Mark Cooper and sophomore Brandy Wood, who also qualified for the event finals. Cooper tied his season-high on floor (9.65), taking third and earning the sixth spot on vault (9.2). Wood placed eighth in the floor exercise with a score of 8.95.

Lion Coach Randy Jepson said he was proud of how all of his gymnasts responded to the intensity of such a huge meet -- particularly Ellefson.

It was encouraging, the coach said, to see the youngster perform as well as he did, especially because he had seen Ellefson get frustrated in practice lately. A meet like the one he had Saturday is certainly a step in the right direction as far as confidence building goes.

The coach added that it was mostly a matter of getting the freshman to realize that he had to rely on his competitive experience.

"Even though you have some rough days in the gym you will be able to rise above that," Jepson said. "Trust yourself, trust your instinct that you are a solid competitor -- Tom proved that today."

And proved it to everybody with his high bar routine, a routine that nobody could outdo -- not even the two Buckeye freshmen.

"To me it was nothing really special," he said. "I got real aggressive and just let it all hang out."

Spoken with an air of confidence. As regional competition approaches in two weeks, the confidence factor will be important for the young Lion squad.

The situation at West Point, N.Y., will be similar to the past weekend, most of the same teams will be there -- it's just a matter of pulling together once again, and putting out a total team effort.

Much like the meet they just finished.

"Everybody had bright spots," Jepson said. "We had some areas that we can clean up, but I think it was a real total Penn State team effort today."