Raising the bar

Gymnast Ekman debuts with first place in high bar

The Rec Hall crowd was silent as Penn State gymnast Tobias Ekman finished his nearly perfect high bar routine. After sticking the landing, Ekman vigorously pumped his fist in the air and set the crowd on fire with its loudest frenzy of applause of the night.

In his Friday night debut versus Massachusetts and Temple, Ekman's presence could already be felt. He finished first with a score of 9.6 in the high bar, an event that Nittany Lion coach Randy Jepson cited as his team's weakest event going into the meet. Ekman finished second in the pommel horse, third in the floor exercise and second in the all-around.

"He made a big difference," Lion assistant coach Lee Ricketts said. "Just look at last week. We went from a final score of a 219 to a 226."

Rickets said Ekman's performance was pretty amazing considering he has been part of the team for less than two weeks. In fact, Ekman has only been in the United States for that short amount of time.

Originally from Eskilstuma, Sweden, Ekman said this is his first time ever in Pennsylvania. He said before he came to Pennsylvania he had only been to Miami twice and Los Angeles once. "So far I like it," Ekman said. "I'm adjusting great. Everybody's been really nice."

This international competitor who represented Sweden at the World Championships said he made contact with Jepson first.

"I wanted to come to Penn State because it's a good school with a long-standing tradition of good gymnastics," Ekman explained.

Even though a pack of young girls surrounded him in hopes of getting his autograph following the meet, Ekman remained focused on the team as a whole.

"I want the team to make it to the NCAA finals -- all the team," he emphasized, "as long as that happens, I'll be happy."

Ekman even explained that his fist pumping came from the weight of his debut being lifted off of his shoulders more than excitement about his performance.

"Some of the events were tough," he said, "It was kind of a relief."