There are all of those adages about not getting ahead of oneself -- "you have to crawl before you can walk," "you have to walk before you can run."

But if the Penn State men's gymnastics team has any sort of inspirational motto on the locker-room bulletin board at the NCAA Championships, which start today at West Point, N.Y., it is this: "You have to qualify before you can defend your title."

Penn State is in one of two qualifying groups of six that will compete today for a chance to battle in the team competition tomorrow night. In order to be alive come the weekend, the Nittany Lions will have to place third or better in a group that contains Ohio State and Michigan, two teams that bumped Penn State down to fourth at the Big Ten Championships two weeks ago.

Perennial contender Stanford is also included in that group.

Penn State coach Randy Jepson takes the process day-by-day.

"The first thing we have to do is get qualified," he said. "If you don't do the job on Thursday, you'll be watching."

How does Jepson keep his athletes' focus in line?

"I keep talking about it over and over and over ... " he said with a laugh.

As with keeping the team's focus on one day, Jepson is taking another pressing situation in the same manner.

He has not lost sight that his top athlete, Luis Vargas, is still ailing with an injured thumb. Vargas has practiced on the parallel bars and high bar, the two events that kept him from competing in the all-around at the Big Ten Championships, but it is still too early to tell what he will be capable of this weekend.

"We're hopeful [about his condition], but we'll have to see," Jepson said.

While Jepson could not comment on Vargas' place on the official roster, he is certain that he will compete on floor exercise, vault, pommel horse and still rings again.

"One of the big keys for us is consistency. Having Luis do more events for us will help," Jepson said.

If his team can keep from dwelling on a fourth-place performance at the Big Ten Championships, Jepson believes that his team is a true contender to win it all again. If his belief comes to fruition, the victory would not only be the second in a row; it would also mark an even dozen championships in school history.

"We're just looking forward, not looking back," Jepson said. "The momentum is starting to build."

The momentum is building, but for some gymnasts -- the seniors on the team -- it will come to an abrupt stop when the weekend is done. Instead of thinking of the bittersweet, however, Jepson wants his seniors to bask in the moment.

"This will be the pinnacle of their conditioning," he said. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, to be at their very best, and I hope they relish it."

But, for them, it would be so much sweeter if they could go out on top.