On Friday, Lady Lion Gymnastics Coach Steve Shephard might have thought a Big Ten Championship meet record would win his team the title Saturday.

But Saturday night Penn State sailed past the record 193.45 and still found itself staring up at Michigan, which won its third-straight title by edging the Lady Lions, 194.85-194.025. Wolverine Coach Beverly Plocki said this championship was the sweetest because of the budding rivalry between Michigan and Penn State.

"I think it is (sweeter)," said the two-time defending Big Ten coach of the year. "This is our first time in Rec Hall and this is a great rivalry."

Saturday night, the No. 3 Wolverines were led by junior Beth Wymer. Wymer, the nation's No. 1 all-arounder, not only broke her own meet all-around record with a 39.675, but electrified the 4,052 fans in attendance with a perfect 10 on vault -- the first ever 10 in the championship. Wymer said she would rather the accolades go to her teammates --and the vocal Michigan contingent in the stands Saturday -- than to herself.

"This was the best team Michigan's ever had," the 5-foot-3 Toledo, Ohio, native said, "I'm glad to be a part of it. I'd like to give a lot of credit to our cheering section, too -- our group was pretty darn loud."

Penn State's first time hosting such an event was not without controversy though. While the athletes and coaches universally praised the evening's atmosphere, they were up-in-arms over the harsh and slow judging of floor exercises.

"The meet ran slow," Minnesota Coach Jim Stephenson said of the four-hour, seven-team meet. "The floor officials were terrible, this thing ran about half-an-hour longer than it should have.

"(Floor scoring) was totally erratic, unnecessarily severe," Stephenson continued. "It was not at all in range with what the universities are used to receiving. They were scored two-tenths lower per routine."

These sentiments were echoed by Michigan State Coach Kathie Klages, who agreed that the floor judges were extremely slow and that their scores were "a couple of tenths lower" than usual.

"They held up the whole meet," Klages said. "It was ridiculous."

The Rec Hall crowd of 4,052 concurred, at least in the case of Lady Lion sophomore Bridget Foley's near-flawless routine. The partisan crowd erupted in boos when Foley's 9.675 score was shown. Foley, however, downplayed the incident.

"I think we had better floor routines than the scores allowed," she said. She said the Lady Lions may have received low scores due to a perceived lack of difficulty in their routines by the judges.

Despite the loss, Lady Lion Coach Steve Shephard was pleased with his team's performance as it heads into the all-important NCAA Northeast Regional Championships April 9 at Rhode Island. Shephard said the Lady Lions' season-best 194.025 Saturday "gives us a lot of confidence going into the championship season." Shephard sidestepped the floor judging controversy saying only that "gymnastics is still a subjective sport and will continue to be."

Shephard's squad will get another crack at Michigan, if the two teams advance, as expected, to the NCAA Championships April 23 at Utah.