NORMAN, Okla. -- Defending champion Ohio State had a little bit of trouble Thursday, but still advanced to the team finals in the NCAA men's gymnastics championships.

The top-ranked Buckeyes scored 215.375 points to lead the three qualifiers from the first session. The other two were surprises -- No. 8 Michigan with 214.075 and 11th-ranked Stanford with 214.00.

No. 2 Oklahoma coasted through the evening session, scoring 218.925 points. California finished second with 217.200, and Iowa slipped past Penn State on the final rotation to qualify third with 213.800. Penn State had 212.800.

The team title will be decided Friday night.

Oklahoma got a strong performance from Daniel Furney to finish with the highest qualifying score of the day. The Sooners also had the best first-day score last year, but Ohio State wound up winning the championship.

"I recognize it doesn't mean a whole lot because tomorrow's another day and we don't carry scores," Oklahoma coach Mark Williams said. "I think we're in a good situation, though."

Ohio State coach Miles Avery had planned to use his top gymnast, Raj Bhavsar, in just two events, but wound up using him in five because the Buckeyes started slowly.

"We needed him because we weren't performing as we should have, so I said, 'All right, suit up, you're in.' He's a trouper and he just went in and did a great job for us," Avery said.

Bhavsar, runner-up in the all-around last year and the favorite this year, said he had hoped to have a light day in order to rest an ailing left shoulder.

"But just like sport goes, things can go unexpectedly and we had some rough areas," Bhavsar said. "Miles said, 'Raj, we need you to just step it up a little bit to secure our spot for tomorrow.' It was no biggie. I want to get us in there."

Iowa trailed the Nittany Lions by six-tenths of a point heading into the final rotation of the night, then scored 37.050 on the vault. Meanwhile Penn State scored 35.425 on the rings.

"I'm not stunned at all," Penn State coach Randy Jepson said. "We haven't been at our best. We've had some injuries, and I knew we'd really have to fight to do a good job here.

"Rings is a low-scoring event, vaulting is the highest-scoring event. We knew we had our back against the wall and had to do great and they probably had to falter."

Michigan advanced despite having Kris Zimmerman for only two events. Zimmerman, NCAA champion in the parallel bars two years ago and runner-up last year, jammed his left ankle on his landing in the vault. X-rays showed no break.

"It's possible he won't go any events tomorrow. It's also possible that he'll go all six," coach Kurt Golder said. "The good news is we qualified without him in the last half of the meet."

Stanford coach Sadao Hamada thanked a freshman and a fifth-year senior for helping get the Cardinal into the team finals. Freshman Kelly Lang, performing last on the parallel bars after watching two teammates struggle, came through with a 8.925. Then Rico Andrade, going last on the high bar in a similar circumstance, scored 9.250.

"I don't know how much I can take," said Hamada, who is retiring this season after 30 years at Stanford. "It was really scary."

Individuals who qualified for the all-around finals even though their teams didn't advance were Clay Strother, Guillermo Alvarez and Eric Steele of Minnesota, Darren Morace and Patrick McFarlin of Massachusetts, and Matt Abboud of Penn State.