UNIVERSITY PARK-- The California men's gymnastics team recorded 231.200 points at the NCAA team championship tonight at Penn State to win its second straight NCAA title. No. 3 Iowa and No. 10 Illinois totaled 229.675 and 228.000 points for second and third place, respectively.

The NCAA crown caps a phenomenal year for the No. 1 Bears, a squad predominately made up of walk-ons and international gymnasts. Cal completed a perfect 23-0 regular season and won the MPSF conference championship and NCAA West Regional crown in addition to the NCAA title to complete its first-ever wire-to-wire undefeated season. Cal head coach and MPSF Co-Coach of the Year, Barry Weiner, now has an astonishing 143-33-1(81.3) record after seven seasons at the helm of the program.

The Bears took first place as a team on the floor (38.475), horse (38.700), rings (38.725) and vault (38.550) en route to its fourth best score of the year. Oleg Kosyak recorded the meet's top scores on the floor (9.700) and rings (season-high 9.800). Other first place finishers were Josh Birckelbaw on the horse (9.800) and Dave Eskildsen on the high bar (9.700).

"I am very proud of my team," said Weiner. "There was a tremendous amount of pressure on these guys to repeat as champions and they definitely rose to the occasion. Anytime we got into a little bit of trouble, someone would step up and put in a good routine and that's why we were able to win."

Kosyak, the nation's No. 3 all-arounder, took second place in the individual all-around championships on Thursday night. He totaled 58.075 points, to fall just behind winner Travis Romagnoli of Illinois, who recorded 58.225 points.

Tomorrow night, seven Bears will compete in the NCAA Individual Event finals which features the top eight gymnasts from Thursday night's preliminaries. Cal has never had so many team members compete in the individuals. Looking for individual event titles and All American honors will be: Kosyak on the floor, high bar, parallel bars, vault and rings. Andrew Hampy on floor, Evgenni Zherebchevskiy on p-bars and rings, Josh Birckelbaw on vault and horse, Tal Moscovitz on horse, and Alex Chansky and Dave Eskildsen on h-bar.

Sportscast Productions is providing a phone service of taped interviews from each day of the NCAA championships for members of the media. To access the interviews, call (402) 220-6222. Tonight's NCAA team championship was taped by ESPN and will be shown on Tues, April 21 at 9:30 p.m. PST.

NCAA TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL RESULTS

Team        FX       PH       SR       V        PB       HB       Total
California  38.475   38.700   38.725   38.550   38.050   38.700   231.200   
Iowa        38.175   38.050   38.425   38.275   38.450   38.300   229.675
Illinois    38.100   37.400   37.000   38.475   38.300   38.725   228.000

Floor:  1. Oleg Kosyak (Cal)-9.700, 2. Andrew Hampy (Cal) and Travis Romagnoli (Ill)-9.650.
Horse:  1. Josh Birckelbaw (Cal)and Todd Strada (Iowa)-9.800, 3. Tal Moscovitz (Cal)-9.700.
Rings:  1. Kosyak (Cal)-9.800, 2. Evgenni Zherebchevskiy (Cal)-9.725, 3. Chris Camiscioli (Iowa)-9.700.
Vault:  1. Romagnoli (Ill)-9.750, 2. Kosyak (Cal)-9.725, 3. Hampy (Cal)-9.700. 
P-bars: 1. Strada (Iowa)-9.750, 2. Romagnoli (Ill)-9.725, 3. Lou Datilio (Iowa)-9.700.
H-bar:  1. Romagnoli (Ill)-9.825, 2. Zherebchevski (Cal) and Jon Corbitt (Ill)-9.800.