Dutka to the rescue

Formerly ineligible gymnast Mike Dutka sparks Lion rout

When previously ineligible gymnast Mike Dutka finished his floor exercise Saturday night at Rec Hall, his teammates ran out to congratulate him, shouting his nickname "Moose."

Electrified by his return, the Penn State men's gymnastics team posted the highest score of any gymnastics team in the nation this season defeating Ohio State 230.55-227.225.

"With Mike back in it does some things for our score," Lion coach Randy Jepson said. "I knew we could be two and a half to three points better than we've been all year with that addition."

The Lions swept both the parallel bar and pommel horse events. Dutka finished first in the parallel bars (9.7) and pommel horse (9.8). Ron Roeder and captain Roy Malka finished behind Dutka, both posting a 9.6. Malka also placed second in the pommel horse with a 9.57, followed by Mark Minutaglio with a 9.55.

Jepson said Malka is an all-around centered person.

"Roy is a mature senior," Jepson said. "He's got high ambitions. He's done extremely well in school and he's actually getting married this summer."

The Lions placed first in every event except for high bar, which was won by Ohio State's Doug Stibel's 9.75.

Roeder won the floor exercise with a 9.8 and the vault with 9.7. Danny Beigel placed first in the rings with a 9.8 and Dutka won the all-around scoring 57.55.

While Penn State was dominating, Ohio State was stumbling.

"We had a lot falls on high bar and pommel horse," Stibel said. "Typically, we don't have that many falls. That was our downfall."

Buckeye coach Miles Avery said the Buckeye gymnasts were worrying about factors they could not control instead of their own performances.

Avery did acknowledge that Penn State did wonderfully and said it was especially great to see Dutka out there performing.

"I thought Penn State deserved to win this meet," Avery said. "I don't think they deserved to win by three points, but it's good for the home crowd to see them win by such a large margin."

Penn State's Tobias Ekman had a scary moment when he fell on the dismount of his ring exercise and landed on his nose. However, he later came back and posted a career-high 9.55 on the vault.

Jepson feels that with Dutka's return the Lions finally have the strong lineup needed to complete the season.

"It makes it a little tough for people to get into the lineup," Jepson said, "It's tough from a competitive standpoint, but that's what makes a strong team, guys fighting it out for their spot."