Some Penn State gymnasts had to travel to Colorado this weekend to find the confidence they have been searching for all season.

"I've been having some trouble since the beginning of this year, so I decided to take a different attitude and it worked out," said junior gymnast Brandy Wood.

Wood and his teammates, Tom Ellefson and Tony Pansy, ventured to Colorado Springs, Colo. to participate in the USA Winter Cup, a competition for the nation's top gymnasts. The threesome reached the Winter Cup Championships after successful meets this season. Qualifiers are chosen based on all-around scores in earlier meets.

The top five all-around scorers at the USA Winter Cup advance to the World Championship team, making a good showing a psychological lift.

"I changed some things in my routine and took a more aggressive approach," Wood said. "I'm going to have to continue this into the Nebraska meet (Feb. 10). We're all looking forward to it. Now I know there is no holding back."

Wood placed seventh overall at the meet this weekend, Pansy took sixth and Ellefson earned ninth in the all-around competition. Exact scores were not available at press time yesterday.

And even though all three gymnasts did well so far this season, they still garnered confidence by competing, and beating some of the nation's top performers.

"It was great to be there," said Ellefson, adding that his performance at this meet was especially helpful after two slow starts at the Navy Invitational and the West Point Open.

The sophomore said so far this season his two weakest events have been the floor and the vault, but after this weekend, that could change.

"I'm really pleased that I could go out there with two rather weak events and take ninth in all-around," Ellefson said. "Overall I just think we all did a super job."

Coach Randy Jepson was equally pleased and thrilled that his team could finally appreciate its talent.

"I was hoping that this would do the trick for them," he said. "I'm glad they could see that our routines are comparable, if not better, than anything out there."

But right now, Wood said he is concentrating on how comparable his routines are going to be when Penn State meets up with top-ranked Nebraska in Rec Hall.