The title defense is on.

Penn State men's gymnastics coach Randy Jepson gambled that his squad's experience would make up for a barrage of injuries and limited practice time.

Turns out he was right.

Led by a strong senior core, the No. 8 Nittany Lions finished third of six in the preliminary round of the NCAA Championships and qualified for tonight's final round. They'll take to the St. Johns Arena floor in Columbus, Ohio at 7.

As expected, No. 1 Oklahoma and No. 4 California also qualified. The Sooners were dominant, registering a 218.300, which is the highest score in the nation this season. The Bears had a 214.550, and the Lions scored 213.625 points.

The other three qualifiers were determined in session two last night, which was completed after press time. Second-ranked Ohio State and No. 3 Michigan were the favorites, with the remaining spot up for Michigan State, Minnesota, Iowa, and Stanford.

"We did enough to get in," Jepson said. "But there's room for improvement, and we'll need to see that if we want to compete."

Jepson said his squad had week floor and pommel horse rotations, but recovered on the other events. Floor has been a strength at times for the Lions this season, and the squad may be able to gain some points there tonight.

Jepson credited Dominic Brindle and Matt Abboud for performing well.

Chris Lakeman was the only Lion to qualify for Saturday's event finals. He tied Brett Covey of Oklahoma with a 9.550 on the rings. Covey and Lakeman have both been ranked first in the nation on the apparatus this season.

Lakeman won the prestigious Winter Cup earlier this winter, but Covey beat Lakeman head-to-head at the Southwest Cup.

After that meet, Lakeman questioned the start value of Covey's routine. The judges at the meet gave it a 10.00 start value, which Lakeman believes was inflated.

The routine Lakeman performs is considered one of the toughest in the country, and features two skills that have never been done in combination before.

Penn State relied on experience to advance to the finals. The six seniors on the squad realize, after four years of competing, what it takes to get high scores in big meets. The Lions did not score well during the regular season.

But they have peaked at the right time. During last year's title run, the Lions were the third qualifier in their preliminary round.

Tonight, they will go for a repeat of last year's final round and their 11th team title. The six seniors want to go out on top.

"We were lead by a great performance from the seniors," Jepson said. "They want this."