The night was full of mixed emotions.

The National Championship Plaque and a banner that was to be raised to the ceiling of Rec Hall loomed behind the men's gymnastics team bench as they warmed up for its meet with Army.

The players avoided the tokens of last year's Championship, instead concentrating on their upcoming routines. Concentrating on the future. On doing it again in April.

"We know what our goal is," said captain Dominic Brindle. "We know what we have to do to get back there."

So maybe when the crowd at Rec Hall stood and cheered as the banner ascended, the players allowed the amazing journey to replay in their minds.

After a sixth place finish at Big Tens, after being the sixth and final team to qualify for final day competition at the NCAA Championships, after entering the final apparatus, the pommel horse, in fourth place they went on to snatch away the title from arch-rival Michigan.

By .125 points.

They know how it's done.

But after the business of the banner was taken care of, the Nittany Lions showed sloppiness on a majority of their routines during a 208.450-199.900 victory.

The Cadets brought a young, raw team to Happy Valley. Penn State won the match on depth and by virtue of having tougher routines.

"Well, as sloppy as we were, this was our best performance," head coach Randy Jepson said. "It just shows how far we have to go."

Tobias Ekman scored a 50.450 in the all around to edge Army's Troy Pazcoguin, who finished with 50.000 points.

Penn State captured all six events.

Kevin Donohue, named the Big Ten male gymnast of the week for his performance at West Point two weekends ago, continued his strong run, winning the floor exercise (9.150) and the vault (9.200).

Jose Palacios recorded a career-best 9.600 on the pommel horse, earning him the Gene Wettstone award as the meet's top gymnast. The award is named for the legendary Penn State coach who won nine titles in his 28 seasons.

Palacios has been competing with a sore back and was clearly not 100 percent. He hyper-extended both knees when trying to land his vault and had to pull out of the remaining events.

"I'm not feeling too good since I didn't finish the all around," he said. "I'm an all-arounder, so I want to finish that. But I think my knees will be okay and my back just needs time."

Still ring specialist Chris Lakeman dominated that event, recording a 9.200. The next closest competitor was teammate Josh Malecki at 8.500.

Matt Abboud captured the parallel bars with an 8.600. Jay Kim and Dominic Brindle tied for first on the horizontal bar with an 8.650.

Brindle competed for the first time this season after missing the first two events while combating the flu.

"I felt very rusty and I know I have to get the cob webs out," he said. "I went very light this week in practice so my strength and stamina isn't anywhere close to where it should be."

It is clear that as a team the Lions are not at the level they need to be to compete with the rest of the Big Ten.

"With Michigan coming in here next weekend, we know we have to be on," said Ekman. "The way they have been performing they'll come in here and destroy us."

Michigan is averaging 211 points this year.

"Obviously we need to get more points," Jepson said. "Some of that will come with actually hitting routines. Guys are still making mistakes out there. We'll also put more skills in to up the value of our routines."

Well after the meet had ended, as the players signed autographs for young fans, a group of them turned to look at the championship banner.

They may have been reminiscing about the past, but most likely they were realizing just how far they have to go to do it again.