This Week: NCAA Championships Date: April 7-9, 2005 National Qualifier Schedule Thursday, April 7: 1 p.m. Team Rotation One Penn State Bye Individual Competitors/All-Arounders Floor Stanford Pommel Horse Minnesota Rings Ohio State Vault Michigan Parallel Bars William & Mary High Bar Thursday, April 7: 7 p.m. Team Rotation One Oklahoma Bye Individual Competitors/All-Arounders Floor Nebraska Pommel Horse California Rings Illinois Vault Iowa Parallel Bars Army High Bar Place: Holleder Center, West Point, N.Y.

The Pride Looks To Defend 2004 Championship: The defending national champions, Penn State enters the 2005 NCAA men's gymnastics championships as the No. 5 team. With a qualifying score of 219.890, the Lions will start the national qualifier's 1 p.m. session on April 7 with a bye, proceeding through the Olympic order of the events. PSU's session also includes Big Ten champ Ohio State, as well as Stanford, William & Mary and fellow Big Ten members Michigan and Minnesota. Session II includes Oklahoma, Nebraska, California, Illinois, Iowa, and host Army.

Three teams and the top three all-around competitors not on one of the qualifying teams, plus the top three individuals on each event not already qualified on a team or as an all-around competitor, will advance from each pre-qualifying session to the finals session. Final competitions will take place April 8-9, all at Army's Hollendar Canter.

Penn State owns an NCAA-record 11 national championships, finishing higher then third on 27 different occasions. The Nittany Lions have won two of the five championships awarded since the year 2000. Forty-eight Penn State individuals have also won NCAA individual crowns, which is also the current NCAA record.

The 2005 NCAA championships will be held at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., and begin with the two NCAA qualifier sessions on Thursday, April 7, at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. The team championship and all-around title will be contested on Friday, April 8, at 7 p.m. The event finals will be held at 7 p.m. the following day, April 9.

The Quest for a Dozen: Should Penn State successfully defend its NCAA championship, it would make an even dozen for the Lions. An NCAA-record 11 national championships reside in Happy Valley, beginning with its first crown in 1948. The Lions have captured the title 10 additional times since then: 1953, '54, '57, '59, '60, '61, '65, '76, 2000 and 2004. Illinois and Nebraska sit two titles behind the Lions with nine in their respective program's history.

Forty-Eight and Counting: A NCAA-record 48 individual titles have been won by Nittany Lions, including two at last year's championships. Kevin Tan captured his second straight NCAA crown on the rings, while Luis Vargas (Rio Pedros, P.R.) earned the All-Around title. Illinois has its sights set on Penn State's record, however, and is currently four behind with 44 overall.

NCAA All-Around Champ, Nissen-Emery Finalist Looks for Repeat Despite Injury: Only an injury could prevent defending NCAA all-around champion Luis Vargas from making a run at back-to-back titles, and in the Lions' meet with William & Mary on March 13 just that happened. The Nissen-Emery Award finalist tore a ligament in his thumb during the meet, relegating him to just four events at Big Tens.

Competitive desire still spurns Vargas to be in the Lions' line-up for NCAAs, but it remains to be seen how much or how well the six-time All-American can perform with the injury.

Vargas earned All-American honors four times last year for his performances on the pommel horse, parallel bars, high bar and the all-around. His appearance at last year's NCAA Championships produced a then-career high in each of four categories (floor, pommel horse, vault, parallel bars) as well as winning the all-around title, the first Lion to do so since Marshall Avener in 1973. A Nissen-Emery Award finalist, Vargas was the Lions' 18th Olympian this past summer. He placed 15th in the overall in Athens while competing for his native Puerto Rico. Before injuring his thumb, Vargas was ranked first nationally in two events, the all-around and the pommel horse, for most of the season.

Nittany Lion Individuals Ranked: Penn State has at least one individual ranked in the top 10 in three events heading into NCAAs. Rankings are as of March 29. By a three score average, 2004 all-Big Ten selection Chad Buczek (Bridgewater, Mass.) is ranked fifth on the vault (9.400) to lead the Lions. Santiage Lopez is ranked sixth on the vault (9.390) while teammate Luis Vargas (Rio Pedros, P.R.) is ranked seventh (9.390) in the same event. Derek Helsby (Orlando, Fl.) ranked ninth on the pommel horse (9.402). Rounding out the Lions in the Top 10, team captain Steve Tobin (Cherry Hill, N.J.) ranks 10th on the floor (9.390).

Lion Individuals in the Nation's
Top 10 as of March 29, 2005
Chad Buczek
Vault - No. 5 (9.400)

Derek Helsby
Pommel Horse - No. 9 (9.402)

Santiago Lopez
Vault - No. 6 (9.390)

Steve Tobin
Floor - No. 10 (9.390)

Luis Vargas
Vault - No. 7 (9.390)

2005 Matchups with Ranked Teams: Penn State met nine ranked opponents this season. They beat Michigan, Army, William & Mary, Temple and Navy (currently No. 4, No. 11, No. 12., No. 13 and No. 15 respectively). The Lions are ranked fourth heading into the Big Ten Championships. Since March 1, rankings have been based on a three score average.

Vargas Finishes Second on Parallel Bars at American Cup: While the Lions missed junior all-arounder Luis Vargas vs. Ohio State, Vargas didn't miss a beat at the American Cup, finishing second on the parallel bars, sixth on the high bar and seventh on the pommel horse. Last year's men's NCAA all-around champion, Vargas only competed in three events, made the finals in all three and finished no less than seventh in any of them.

Vargas scored a 9.575 on the parallel bars, finishing .012 out of first place to Japan's Kazuya Ueda. On high bar, Vargas took sixth with a 9.087, with first-place finisher Yann Cucherat of France winning with an 9.612.

Representing his native Puerto Rico, Vargas was seventh on the pommel horse with a 7.925. Winner Alexander Artemov of the United States earned a 9.362 on the apparatus.

Only a junior in eligibility, this will be Vargas' final year competing for the Lions. Minus its NCAA champion, No. 4 Penn State met No. 2 Ohio State tonight to celebrate senior night. The Lions lost to the Buckeyes 222.075-215.500.

The men's line-up featured athletes from numerous countries including the United States, Japan, Slovenia, Finland, Spain and Hungary. The new American Cup format, which features individual event finals only, allows athletes placing among the top eight on each apparatus to earn World Cup points toward qualification to the bi-annual World Cup Final.

From 1976 through 2004, the American Cup served as the most prestigious international all-around competition on the gymnastics calendar. The event launched the international careers of many world-class competitors, such as Bart Conner, Kurt Thomas, Mary Lou Retton, Peter Vidmar, Shannon Miller, Blaine Wilson, Kerri Strug and Carly Patterson.

Vargas Picks Up Second Big Ten Honor This Year: Penn State's Luis Vargas was named Feb. 21's Big Ten Men's Gymnast of the Week, marking the second time the junior all-arounder has received the honor this season. The Puerto Rico native is the defending NCAA champion in the all-around and has continued to dominate this season as evidenced by his first-place ranking nationally on the pommel horse and in the all-around.

Vargas won the Gene Wettstone award after leading then-No. 5 Penn State to an upset victory over then-No. 4 Michigan on Feb. 19. He took home the all-around crown as well as claiming first-place finishes in four events against the Wolverines. Vargas set a career high with a score of 9.900 on the high bar, the second-highest mark in school history. He also established personal bests on the pommel horse (9.800), rings (9.500) and vault (9.500). The defending NCAA Champion won the all-around with a 56.975, currently the highest score in the nation and his own personal best. Vargas' honor was his third all-time weekly laurel, as he was also honored on Feb. 2, 2005 and March 16, 2004.