PHILADELPHIA, April 13, 2003 - Penn State's Kevin Tan (Fremont, Calif.) scored a 9.762 on rings to claim the 2003 NCAA Rings Championship title at the NCAA Event Finals on Sunday afternoon at the Liacouras Center. Tan's individual crown is Penn State's 46th all-time which is an NCAA record. Illinois is second on the NCAA list with 43 individual titles.

"It feels good," said Tan of winning the rings title. "It's something I have been working for, especially after finishing second last year. It feels good to achieve one of my goals."

Last year's NCAA runner-up, Tan reached All-America status on rings for the third-straight year. He almost took home the high bar title, as well, finishing second with a 9.625 and earning All-America honors on the event for the first time in his career. For his career, Tan has collected five All-America citations.

In his first-career appearance in the NCAA event finals, senior Zack Roeder (Montrose, Pa.) took second place on both events he competed on, narrowly missing top honors on both apparatuses. He topped his career high for the second-straight night on pommel horse and notched a 9.600 to place just 0.087 points behind champion John Landis from Oklahoma. The final competitor on the apparatus, Michigan's Andrew DiGiore edged out Roeder for the vault title, scoring a 9.650 while Roeder earned a career-high 9.600 to earn his second All-America honor of the afternoon.

Senior Kevin Donohue (Saddle River, N.J.) nabbed his fourth-career All-America honor, coming in fifth place on high bar with a 9.312.

Freshman Luis Vargas (San Piedras, P.R.) claimed All-America honors on both events he competed on, as well, placing sixth on both high bar (8.800) and parallel bars (9.125).

Sophomore Ludwig Kern (Annapolis, Md.) earned All-America status on vault while making his first-career appearance at the event finals. He notched a 9.362 and placed sixth in the standings.

Penn State finished the season with a third-place showing at the team finals on Saturday afternoon with a score of 219.950, its best finish at the NCAA Championships since winning the title in 2000. The NCAA Team Finals will air on ESPN on Monday, April 14 at 3:30 p.m. The event finals can be seen over the Internet at www.cn8.com/TV at 7 p.m.

Individual Results
Pommel Horse
2. Zack Roeder, 9.600

Still Rings
1. Kevin Tan, 9.762

Vault
2. Zack Roeder, 9.625
6. Ludwig Kern, 9.362
7. Kevin Donohue, 9.262

Parallel Bars
6. Luis Vargas, 8.800

High Bar
2. Kevin Tan, 9.625
5. Kevin Donohue, 9.312
6. Luis Vargas, 9.125
--LIONS--