Home, sweet home -- a fitting phrase for the Penn State men's gymnastics team after cruising past Temple and Navy on Friday at Rec Hall.

The Nittany Lions scored 216.875 points, while Temple and Navy finished with totals of 207.325 and 203.5 points, respectively.

The night began with the raising of Penn State's 2004 NCAA championship banner, the school's 11th -- an NCAA record.

"It was ... awesome watching them raise the banner," captain Steve Tobin said. "It's a good feeling, having such a big crowd, too, the way they respond to us."

The crowd was into it from the start, as the team began with a strong performance on the floor exercise. Penn State took the lead and never relinquished it.

Four Lions scored above 9.000 on the 10-point scale, led by junior Chad Buczek's 9.550.

The dominance was not the only thing that made the crowd go wild. At any key point in a Penn Stater's performance, his teammates would begin the renowned "We Are ... " cheer, and the crowd was willing to comply with its response.

The crowd and atmosphere was a great way to welcome Vladi Klurman, who competed in his first meet with the team.

"It was very exciting," he said. "I wasn't expecting such a crowd."

Klurman saw his first action in blue-and-white on the pommel horse, where he finished with an 8.450 after a fall. He was not alone in the struggles on the horse, though; the three teams each saw multiple falls and miscues on the apparatus. Such performances did not get by Penn State coach Randy Jepson.

"We're a much better pommel horse team than that," Jepson said. "It should be one of our better events. We're just not really consistent yet."

One athlete who grabbed everyone's attention -- as well as his first top finish in an event, on the high bar -- was sophomore Matt Bowman. The general consensus showed nothing but praise from teammate and all-around winner Luis Vargas, Tobin and the coach.

"I was pleased with Matt Bowman," Jepson said. "He did both of his events [the floor exercise and high bar] really solidly. He showed me that he's a competitor."

One athlete who is not a stranger to Rec Hall and high-level performances is Vargas, who surprised himself with strong routines of 9.000 and above on all six events.

"I thought I was out of shape," Vargas said of his first rigorous competition since the Athens Olympics.

Two months of training in Romania paid off in the form of the all-around title and Wetstone Award, which was given to the gymnast of the meet.

Vargas also was recognized for his 2004 NCAA all-around championship, as was Kevin Tan, who took the NCAA title on the rings and now stands in to assist the gymnasts.

Perhaps looking back on last season's success will be the impetus Penn State needs to raise its level of competition. The first chance to see that will be Friday and Saturday at the West Point Open.

Jepson knows that there is a lot of work to be done to bring the championship back to Penn State.

"[This meet] certainly wasn't indicative of what I think we're capable of," he said.

"Overall as a team, I'd characterize it as a sub-par performance."