Leading defending national champion Nebraska after three events, Lion senior captain Dave Riordan gathered the men's gymnastics team together on Friday.

"We knew that we had a lead and we wanted to be sure to keep it," Riordan said. "I wanted to get everyone focused on the last three events to make that lead stick."

Penn State held its lead through the entire meet and won, 227.95-226.50.

"We have a real formidable team and we showed that tonight," Lion Coach Randy Jepson said.

Lions who stood out were senior Mark Cooper and junior Brandy Wood. Cooper finished first on high bar (9.8) and second on floor (9.65). Wood placed first on rings (9.65) and fourth in the all-around (55.9).

Junior Tony Pansy also had an outstanding meet, placing in the top four in all six events. He finished first on floor (9.7), second on pommel horse (9.6), vault (9.4), parallel bars (9.7) and high bar (9.7) and fourth on rings (9.55). He also placed first in the all-around (57.65).

Also adding to the Lions' success was a decision made by Jepson to try something new. He had senior Lee Ricketts as the lead-off man in the floor exercise, pommel horse and rings. The team was counting on him to set the tone for the meet, Jepson said.

Ricketts placed fourth on pommel horse (9.45) and rings (9.55). He also placed sixth on floor (9.45) and high bar (9.5).

"I feel that I did really well in all of my routines and hit everything," Ricketts said. "I'm glad Randy had the trust in me to lead off."

Richard Grace led the Cornhuskers, placing first on pommel horse (9.8), vault (9.75) and parallel bars (9.75) and second in the all-around (57.6).

Despite Grace's efforts, the Cornhuskers started off shaky. Many of the Nebraska gymnasts had problems staying on the pommel horse.

"From our standpoint, we were out of the meet when our first man fell off the pommel horse," said Nebraska Coach Francis Allen. "We are a very young team and we need to hit the pommel horse. This meet was a learning experience for our younger guys."