WEST POINT, N.Y.; January 30, 2004- No. 2 Penn State captured its seventh-straight West Point Open Friday with a team score of 214.625. The Lions were paced by first-place showings from Kevin Tan (Fremont, Calif.) on the rings with a 9.725 and Chad Buzcek (Bridgewater, Mass.) on floor, who took first with a 9.400.

Tan finished the day third in the all-around after qualifying for the finals in three events. In addition to the rings, Tan scored in the top eight finishers on the pommel horse with an 8.900, and the parallel bars with an 8.500. The senior will scratch from the finals of both the pommel horse and the parallel bars and compete only on the rings on day two.

Buzcek made a strong showing in the all-around as well, placing sixth during the preliminary round. In addition to his top score on the floor exercise, Buzcek also finished among the top eight on the still rings (9.300- T 6th), and the vault (9.300- T 7th).

One other Lion finished the preliminaries on top of his event. Zach Roeder (Montrose, Pa.) scored a 9.500 on the pommel horse in Friday's competition, good enough for first. Roeder also tied for second on the floor exercise with a 9.150.

Other Lions who advanced to tomorrow's event finals include: Luis Vargas (Rio Pedros, P.R.) on the pommel horse (9.450- 2nd), parallel bars (8.750-4th) and high bar (8.900-6th), Steve Tobin (Cherry Hill, N.J.) on the vault (9.300-T 7th), Ed Seward (Aston, Pa.) on the high bar (9.250- 5th), Nat Eng (Cohoes, N.Y.) on the pommel horse (9.050- 5th) and Jerker Taudein (Eskilstuna, Sweden) on the parallel bars (8.700- T 5th). Tobin joins Tan as the only other Lion scratch for tomorrow, taking a pass on the vault despite his seventh-place finish.

Penn State won three events outright, the floor exercise, pommel horse, and rings, tied for first on the vault. The Lions finished no lower than the runner-up spot on any apparatus, taking second in both parallel bars and on high bar. With Penn State's total score of 214.625, No. 7 Nebraska finished second by almost four points in the team competition with a 210.900. Host school No. 11 Army was third with a 208.700.

In all age divisions, PSU graduate Kevin Donohue earned the top spot on the high bar (9.400), tied for first on the vault (9.600) and parallel bars (8.800). Donohue is also in second place on the floor with a 9.150.

Action continues tomorrow at the West Point Open with the Individual Finals beginning at 7 p.m.