Gymmen survive scare, Spartans collapse at end

Saturday night's Penn State-Michigan State men's gymnastics meet came down to the last event -- and it did not look good for the Nittany Lions.

For No. 5 Penn State (5-2, 3-2 Big Ten) the goal was to tame the high bar, its weakest event. The puzzle standing before the No. 7 Spartans (1-2, 0-2) was the parallel bars, one of its strongest events.

In the end the Lions finished with their highest team score of the year and, coupled with a Michigan State collapse on the parallel bars, earned a 227.125-225.000 victory in front of 1,438 fans at Rec Hall.

"We had to hit going into that last event or we might have lost the meet," said Penn State coach Randy Jepson.

The Lions seemed headed for a loss when junior Ron Roeder fell from the high bar twice during his routine. The result -- a 7.0 and the front door opened for Michigan State.

- Randy Jepson, Penn State men's gymnastics coach

"It's not one of his strongest events," Jepson said. "It's a pretty new routine for him."

But then the tide shifted for the final three competitors on each apparatus.

Michigan State's Ethan Sterk (8.75), Brady Grimm (8.85) and Mike Quarress's (8.85) performances on parallel bars ended any hope of a Spartan upset, while upsetting themselves.

"The last three guys had a rough time of it," said Michigan State coach Rick Atkinson. "They blew it."

Meanwhile, the last three competitors for the Lions on high bar hit their routines.

Freshman Tobias Ekman and captain Roy Malka each scored a 9.45, only to be topped by freshman Adam Benas' 9.6 routine, which won him the event and the Lions the meet.

The Lions' performance and determination pleased Jepson.

"Encouraging," Jepson said about the meet. "We had a lot of little errors but they finished up real strong."

Penn State's team effort was augmented by Ekman, who beat out Roeder for the all-around and won the Gene Wettstone Award for the meet's most outstanding gymnast. Ekman's scores included 9.4 on the floor exercise and parallel bars, 9.3 on pommel horse and 9.45 on both vault and the rings.

"I'm happy. It feels great," Ekman said.

Michigan State, however, couldn't say the same.

"We did an outstanding job up until the parallel bars," Atkinson said. "I was very proud though."

The Spartans had solid performances on vault, which was the only event they managed to win. The highlight being Keith Douglas's 9.6.

On high bar, one of the Spartans' best events, they managed to get the Rec Hall crowd into a frenzy, especially the routines of Sterk and Tommy Housley.

The crowd could have been feeding off the Spartans' own emotional showing, which was led by the coach.

"I'm emotional, and they see the way I am," Atkinson said.

In the end, the emotion wasn't enough, and the cool calm of Penn State sealed the meet. For Michigan State, the loss was tough to swallow.

"They're a tough team. A lot sharper than in the past," Jepson said. "Not so many errors and they would have won."

The Lions' score was bolstered with wins by sophomore Brandon Stefaniak (9.825) on the pommel horse and junior Danny Beigel (9.8) on rings.

"They're a lot like us," Atkinson said, "a little deeper."