STATE COLLEGE, Pa.; August 16, 2004- Penn State junior Luis Vargas (Rio Pedros, P.R.) has qualified for the individual event finals in the all-around at the Athens Olympics with his 16th place finish in the qualifying rounds. Vargas is competing in the Olympics for his native Puerto Rico and was one of 27 individuals to qualify for Wednesday¡¯s finals, which will be held at Olympic Indoor Hall in Athens beginning at 8:30 p.m. local time. Vargas, the sole gymnast representing his country after earning a wild card spot in the games, posted a 56.587 in qualifying. The score to beat after the event qualifiers was that of American Paul Hamm, a 58.061.

Vargas is Penn State¡¯s only current student-athlete competing at the games. As a sophomore this past season, Vargas became Penn State's first NCAA all-around champion since 1973 while helping boost the Nittany Lions to the 2004 NCAA Championship. Named Penn State's Most Valuable Gymnast this past season, Vargas also made the finals in three other individual events at the NCAA Championships, tying for second on the pommel horse, and placing sixth on the high bar and fourth on the parallel bars. An All-Big Ten selection for the second consecutive year, he placed third overall on the high bar with a 9.475 and was second with a career-high 9.550 on the parallel bars during the team finals at the Big Ten championships. Vargas also earned a silver medal at last summer's Pan-Am games on the pommel horse. Olympic gymnastics competition begins August 14.

Men's Individual All-Around Qualifiers
1. Paul Hamm USA 58.061
2. Yang Tae Young KOR 57.924
3. Hiroyuki Tomita JPN 57.649
4. Marian Dragulescu ROM 57.436
5. Yernar Yerimbetov KAZ 57.424
6. Ioan Suciu ROM 57.398
7. Yang Wei CHN 57.374
8. Roman Zozulya UKR 57.273
9. Alexei Bondarenko RUS 56.936
10. Isao Yoneda JPN 56.924
11. Kim Dae Eun KOR 56.811
12. Pavel Gofman ISR 56.723
13. Ruslan Mezentsev UKR 56.711
14. Rafael Martinez ESP 56.636
15. Benoit Caranobe FRA 56.635
16. Luis Vargas PUR 56.587