Gymmen take fourth

By DARREN STEELE
Collegian Staff Writer

No one was sure how the Penn State men's gymnastics team would do this weekend at the Big Ten Championships, especially coach Randy Jepson. His lack of confidence stemmed from the team's handful of injuries heading into the meet.

When it was all over, Jepson's low confidence proved to be valid.

The Nittany Lions finished a disappointing fourth this weekend at the Big Ten Championships at Iowa. Michigan came out on top with a score of 230.275, followed by Iowa (229.475), Ohio State (229.250) and Penn State (227.650).

We had a decent meet," Jepson said. We started to struggle on the floor and high bar."

The floor problems may have been expected for Penn State. Some of their best floor athletes, such as senior Danny Beigel and sophomore Tobias Ekman, were suffering from foot injuries, that hampered their performances.

"We did a good job, but not a spectacular job." Jepson said

All-Around favorite Travis Romganoli, of Illinois, broke his hand earlier in the week, and was un-able to compete. This paved the way for Iowa's Todd Strata. The Iowa senior won the All-Around war, overcoming a field of the best All-Around gymnasts in the nation. The Lions placed six athletes in the individual competition, which took place on Saturday night.

Senior All-American Ron Roeder led the Lions by finishing second with a 9.8 on the rings, fifth on the floor exercise and seventh on the parallel bars. Teammate Adam Benas had a good weekend as well, finishing second on the high bar and seventh on the floor exercise.

Freshman Jose Palacios seemed to recover from his injuries, as he placed third on the vault. Dominic Brindle's road to recovery began to smooth out, as he placed 10th on the parallel bars with a 9.1. This was a major achievement for Brindle after recovering from a high-bar accident nearly a month ago.

Brandon Stefaniak, the top-ranked pommel horse gymnast in the nation, placed a disappointing seventh. Stefaniak had held the top spot in the nation since the beginning of the season.

The low finish may only help Stefaniak to become stronger. The junior seems to feed off of adversity and this may only strengthen his desire to do well at the East Regionals April 10 at Illinois.

Some people may wonder how Penn State can take anything positive from this disappointing weekend, but Jepson may have a suggestion.

"We've gotta hit all of our routines,' Jepson said. "These guys need to compete a little tougher. We really need to hit all of our routines."

The team was looking to this past weekend's tourney as a building block. Senior captain Tim Lashua pointed out last week that Penn State would need this weekend to get the team ready for East Regionals. Now the Lions need the next two weeks to recover from injuries and refocus.