The Penn State men's gymnastics team bid goodbye to captain Adam Benas at Rec Hall Saturday night after it soundly defeated No. 15 Army.

Penn State men's gymnastics coach Randy Jepson performed the Penn State tradition of draping the blanket over Benas in recognition of his last home meet as a Nittany Lion. Jepson's senior meet was bittersweet, however, as he sat out to rest his injured back.

"It was hard," Benas said. "The week before I got injured I was training really well and I was excited, looking forward to my senior meet, having my family and friends there."

Despite Benas' injury and injuries to several other Lions, the team handled Army, sweeping every event and coming away with a 215.600-204.150 victory. The Lions used top scores on the floor exercise, high bar, and vault from junior Kevin Donohue as well as top scores on rings and parallel bars from sophomore Kevin Tan to defeat the Cadets. Junior Zack Roeder won the pommel horse as well.

Benas found out Saturday that he has a bulging disc in his back, but will attempt a comeback for the Big Ten Championships next week.

"I'm going to do what I can to get back as quick as I can. I know it would really benefit the team if I could get back for the last two meets of the year," Benas said, referring to the Big Ten and NCAA Championships.

The Lions also received a solid effort from freshmen Adam Pierce and Steve Tobin, much to the satisfaction of Jepson.

"I was really pleased with how our freshmen did," Jepson said. "They were pretty solid. They competed the way I hoped they would, just being confident and being tough, the way we talked about it all year."

Tobin was also pleased with his performance.

"The meet went a lot better than any of my meets so far," he said. "I progressed a lot more during this meet and I feel confident in my routine, in what I'm doing."

Earning the Gene Wettstone Award for the meet was junior Duke Van Vleet, who came through with a strong performance despite being bothered by a knee injury. Van Vleet placed second on still rings and third on high bar.

"Overall I couldn't ask for a better meet," Van Vleet said.

His coach was also impressed.

"Duke was solid," Jepson said. "He did a fine job coming back from that knee injury. He was very sound."

The meet holds high importance for the Lions as they head into the Big Ten Championships at Minnesota next weekend.

"I think it was very important," Van Vleet said. "Even though it wasn't as tough as an opponent as we usually face I think we just needed another meet to see how we can come together as a team."

The Lions came into this meet with a different approach in preparation for their upcoming schedule.

"Instead of looking at it as a straightforward meet, we thought we would put ourselves in different scenarios, like what if we were down by a couple tenths in Big Tens or Nationals," Van Vleet said.

The Lions will look to avenge their only loss of the season, to Ohio State, and try to accomplish something that they have never done — winning the Big Ten Championship.

"In my mind we are one of the better teams in the Big Ten and we have a very legitimate shot at winning," Benas said.