For the Penn State men's gymnastics team, this was supposed to be the weekend where everything would come together, not fall apart.

The No. 6 Nittany Lions (5-2, 1-1 Big Ten) originally imagined the Big Ten Championships as the time when all the gymnasts would pull together and show they are at the top of the conference.

By finishing fifth with a score of 210.250 on Friday night in Iowa City, the Lions qualified five gymnasts to compete for individual titles the following day, but left that night disappointed in themselves.

Penn State men's gymnastics coach Randy Jepson was not impressed with his squad during the weekend.

"I'm very disappointed," Jepson said. "We trained all year for this, and we didn't come through."

The team had to sit and watch as No. 3 Ohio State won for the second consecutive year with a score of 215.525.

After losing to Ohio State earlier in the year, the Lions felt that they were ready to take the crown from the Buckeyes.

The Lions had already beaten conference rival No. 8 Michigan at the beginning of the season and knew that pulling off the win was not impossible.

But Jepson knew beforehand that the key to any victory would be on the injured body of sophomore Tommy Ramos.

Ramos was only physically able to compete in the rings competition, his specialty.

He took second in the event on the first day with a 9.450, which enabled him to compete in the individual event the second day.

But Jepson wished he could have had Ramos ready for the parallel bars as well.

"We really need Tommy Ramos to get healthy again," Jepson said. "If he competes in other events, it's such a big influence. It's pretty much one extra point overall right there."

On Day 2 of competition, Ramos went on to win the rings competition to garner All-Big Ten honors. The score of 9.550 won Ramos his sixth rings title of the year.

Sophomore Derek Helsby finished third behind Ramos, and, along with a third-place finish in the pommel horse, Helsby managed to impress his coach.

"Helsby was just really strong all day," Jepson said. "He would have probably won the all-around in it wasn't for a miscue."

The "miscue," though minor, had Helsby just short of being the Big Ten's top all-around gymnast, something he has worked towards all season.

Another gymnast who came up just short was sophomore Santiago Lopez, who for the second year in a row finished with a score of 9.400 in the vault.

Lopez's finish was almost symbolic of the Lions' weekend as a whole in that they came up short of something they have been striving towards all year -- a Big Ten title.

Jepson originally hoped to use the Big Ten Championships as a springboard of momentum going into the NCAA Championships in Oklahoma in two weeks.

But now he has to focus on getting his team healed up and rested.

"We'll just have to keep training," Jepson said. "We're just not healthy right now."