Gymmen second with Temple, SU

By JENNIFER SCHOENFELD
Collegian Sports Writer

While many Penn State students were home relaxing or tanning under the Florida sun, the men's gymnastics team competed in two meets over spring break.

Penn State battled the Temple Owls and Syracuse Orangemen at Temple on Mar. 5. The Lions finished second with 227.5, behind Temple's 228.5 but ahead of Syracuse's 221.35.

"We just didn't perform well," said Coach Randy Jepson. "We missed 12 out of 36 routines, which is very uncharacteristic for us. When you do that, you don't win."

The Lions were well prepared but they lacked concentration, resulting in many missed routines.

"It was a good experience overall because it showed them that they can't afford to miss routines," Jepson said. "But they bounced back and did well at the Michigan Invitational."

Last Saturday, the Lions were among five teams that competed in the Michigan Invitational. The other teams were Temple, Illinois-Chicago, Western Michigan and Michigan.

Finishing first with 229.60, the Lions had the team-high score for the season. Rounding out the team scores were Michigan (227.7), Temple (227.6), Illinois-Chicago (227.1) and Western Michigan (222.4).

In the Penn State lineup for the first time this year was sophomore Joe Roemer. Out due to an injured wrist, he got cleared to train a month ago. Roemer only competed on the floor exercise but earned his career-high of 9.75.

"It was a great feeling to come back to the team after so long," Roemer said.

Even though the season is more than half over, Roemer decided to come back with only four meets left. There was a hole that he could fill on the floor with senior Mark Cooper injured, Roemer said.

"It's been a long haul for him," Jepson said. "I give him a lot of credit because he did a great job competing in his first meet all season."

Junior Tony Pansy also had a solid meet, earning his career-high in the all-around (57.9). He also tied the Penn State record on the floor exercise, scoring a 9.9.

Sophomore Tom Ellefson hit each of his three routines for the first time this season, scoring 9.6 on pommel horse, 9.65 on parallel bars and 9.75 on high bar.

"He had an outstanding meet and his scores really helped out a lot," Jepson said.