GYMNASTICS NCAA MEN’S CHAMPIONSHIPS : Ohio State Star Wins Five Medals

Mike Racanelli of Ohio State continued to dominate the individual portion of the NCAA men’s gymnastics meet by winning medals in five of the six individual events Saturday night.

Racanelli, a senior who won the separate all-around competition earlier in the day, won the floor exercise and placed in the top six--the requirement for All-American status--in the other five.

Racanelli was the only gymnast to qualify for all six events during preliminaries Thursday night.

UCLA’s Chris Waller created the most excitement of the evening when his horizontal bar routine--the final routine of the night--drew 10.0 scores from two judges. His final score was a 9.975, the highest score of the meet.

UCLA and Penn State each had two individual titlists. Brad Hayashi was UCLA’s other champion, winning the vault.

Penn State’s Mark Sohn defended his title on the pommel horse by scoring a 9.900. Sohn, the only 1989 champion who returned to defend his title, beat Arizona State’s Christian Rohde, who had a 9.850. Penn State’s Wayne Cowden had a 9.900 on the rings to edge Chainey Umphrey of UCLA for first place.

Nebraska, the national team champion, had three gymnasts make All-America in two events. Freshman Trent Dimas took second in the horizontal bar and floor exercise. Patrick Kirksey won the parallel bars and was third in the pommel horse, and Mark Warburton was third on the parallel bars and sixth on the rings.