The old adage says the best way to learn is through trial and error. The Big Ten created a variation of that last weekend when they held the first-ever same-site men's and women's gymnastics championships in Rec Hall.

But they learned through trial and success.

The Big Ten gymnastics coaches voted unanimously last Sunday to continue holding the men's and women's championships at the same site next year.

"From what I understand, it's still on a trial basis," Michigan Men's Coach Bob Darden said. "But for all intents and purposes, that was a great championship, and I think we'll want to duplicate it and build on it for next year."

However, the format still has to be endorsed by the conference's Championship and Awards Committee, and then accepted by a panel of the conference's athletic directors. But Robert Bowlsby, Iowa's Athletic Director and the chairman of the Awards Committee, said those steps are just a formality, and that the new format will, "in all likelihood," be adopted.

Lion captain Jim Delaney viewed the competition as a success and predicts its implementation in the future. The new format helped to draw a large crowd, a combined 7,736 over three sessions.

"When they look at our statistics, I'm sure they'll look at crowd as probably a determining factor," he said. "It seemed to me that each crowd complemented the other crowd. As far as revenues go, from a money standpoint, it's a good way to get people in the seats."

Many gymnasts feel the co-ed format added enthusiasm to the competition.

"I think it worked out real well," Lady Lion gymnast Coby Silver said. "I thought it was exciting that way."

Lion gymnast Tyson Bryant was excited about the opportunity to see the women compete. The gymnasts train together but don't get to see each other perform as often as they would like because of differences in travel schedules.

For Delaney, watching the women gives him a chance to see another aspect of the sport.

"It's entertaining," he said. "It's different than ours -- even with the music on the floor. I really like it."

Not only was the men's championship different from the women's, it was also different from last year's men's meet. This year, the men eliminated the compulsory competition in order to accomodate the women's competition.

"The women didn't want to have it together initially," said Fred Roethlisberger, Minnesota men's coach, adding that to convince them, "the men said, 'You set up your meet exactly the way you want, and we'll place our meet around it.' "

Bryant had no complaints about the meet format and was not disappointed by the change.

"From what I understand, compulsories are on the way out anyway, so I don't really see it as being that much of a detriment," he said.

Even visiting gymnasts were inspired by the Rec Hall atmosophere. Competing away from home is not always easy, but the fans made everyone feel welcome.

"I think (Penn State) did a wonderful job," Michigan State senior Jennifer Dube said. "It was the best Big Ten Championship I've been to in four years."