Utah finished the regular season in first place in women's gymnastics. And the Utes are on the way to finishing the postseason that way too.

Penn State finished in fifth place, four places behind Utah yesterday in the afternoon session of the NCAA Championships.

Utah scored a 196.850, Michigan scored a 196.575 and Nebraska finished third with a 195.875. All three of those teams will compete again today, along with the top three teams from last night's preliminary session, to determine the national champion. Penn State scored a 194.975 in the competition, its fourth-lowest score of the season. They finished ahead of only Oklahoma, which scored a 194.425. LSU finished fourth with a 195.800.

One more point and the Lions would still be looking at competition tonight.

"Overall I am proud of the team," Penn State coach Steve Shephard said.

All season, the floor exercise has been a consistent routine for the Nittany Lions, and once again, it proved to be the Lions' strong point, but this time it wasn't strong enough. They finished with a score of 49.075, tying Oklahoma in the event for fifth place overall. Lisa Clark scored a 9.875, giving her for a tie for seventh place. Meredith Hoover and Kristal Uzelac tied for second on the team with a 9.825. Kate Stopper stumbled on her first and second passes of her routine.

Clark finished the all-around competition with a 39.100. Ashley Postell of Utah won the overall competition with a 39.575.

The Lions started the day on the balance beam. Penn State didn't turn its worst performance of the year, but it certainly wasn't the best, scoring a 48.125. Clark and Corissa Pirkl turned in the best scores for the Lions with efforts of 9.750. Stopper, who did well all season on beam, scored 9.150 and her score wasn't counted for the team total. Unfortunately, because of her low score, Uzelac's 9.275 had to count. Both Uzelac and Stopper fell.

"It was really exciting being there , and we started out with a little bit of nerves," Meredith Hoover said.

Amie Olaes finished first on the vault, scoring a 9.825. She finished 11th overall in the competition. Clark anchored the team, and she said she had little bit too much "strength" and messed up her vault, finishing with a score of 9.675.

Penn State ended the day on the bars. Clark, Uzelac and Pirkl tied for the lead with a 9.800. The team finished with a 48.925. Everyone on Penn State finished close, with the lowest score being 9.750.

None of the gymnasts qualified for the individual competition that will be held tomorrow night.

As quickly as the season ended for Penn State, it is out of the minds of the gymnasts and coaches. All are looking forward to next year.

"They represented Penn State well," Shephard said. "It was a great learning experience, and we are looking to build on this next year."