What happens in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas.

Unless you're the Penn State men's gymnastics team.

Six gymnasts traveled to the Silver State. Not to try their chances at the slots, but at individual competition.

The team was mildly successful with more than half of the men being in the top half in their events. Senior captain Steve Tobin tied for 18th on the vault and sophomore Matt Cohen took 31st in the all-around.

Junior Chad Buczek and alumnus Kevin Tan stole the show for Penn State. Buczek took sixth place on the floor and Tan a close second on the still rings. Tan won the event last year and was also the 2003 and 2004 NCAA champion on the apparatus. Eric LaMorte, an unattached gymnast who earned a 9.525 on the apparatus, defeated Tan by one tenth of a point.

"[They didn't do] too bad. Two guys made finals, and we had a good showing," Penn State coach Randy Jepson said. "[We] had a solid performance, gained momentum as a team, along with individual performances."

While this weekend's individual competition only included about a third of the team, the rest prepared for this week's meet against last year's Big Ten champion, Illinois. Penn State took second place against Illinois last year and once again has its work cut out for the weekend.

Last weekend, the Fighting Illini were represented by juniors Adam Pummer and Justin Spring, both of whom took home gold medals on the floor and high bar, respectively.

The Illini are currently second best in the Big Ten behind Ohio State, whom they tied in their home opener. Penn State is currently ranked fourth in the Big Ten and fifth nationally, according to GymInfo.com.

"[It's going to be a] tough competition, and we'll do our very best to win," Jepson said. "We need a good challenge."

And a good challenge is what the team will get, as the Nittany Lions compete against the top three in the Big Ten in the next three weeks. Their schedule doesn't let up from there on out. After Big Ten competition is over, the team will host the All-Stars from Japan.