Men’s Gymnastics Defeats Oklahoma – Ohio State Buckeyes
2/20/1999 12:00:00 AM | General, Men's Gymnastics
February 20, 1999
The Ohio State men’s gymnastics team defeated the visiting Oklahoma Sooners tonight in St. John arena by a count of 227.100-226.225. The Buckeyes were paced by Tim Elsner (Sr., Middletown, N.J.), who placed in the top three of the floor exercise, still rings and parallel bars to end up as the all-around champion. Daren Lynch (So, Londonderry, N.H.) landed a double by winning on the still rings and vault, while Jamie Natalie (So., Hockessin, Del.), fresh off making the U.S. National Team last weekend, won the floor exercise. The Sooners (5-4) were led by All-American Todd Bishop (Sr., Latham, N.Y.), who swept the top spots on the pommel horse, parallel bars and horizontal bar. %^$
Buckeye head coach Miles Avery was cautious about the team’s victory, and said, “The team had two weeks off, so they were a little rusty. I’m expecting more for next week, when we face Penn State, since the [Nittany] Lions are the number one ranked team in the country.” %^$
Oklahoma’s Bishop said of his performance, “I was happy with the way both the team and I performed tonight. Of course, you always hope to beat a team as good as Ohio State, but we did well despite the injuries we have been fighting over the last few weeks. Personally, I’m happy to get back into the swing of things and perform well, which is what the team needs me to do.”%^$
The Buckeyes face perhaps their toughest challenge of the season next week in a coed meet against nationally ranked number one power Penn State at 7 p.m. in St. John Arena. The Lions are the only team to have spoiled the current senior class overall 23-1 dual meet record, a loss that occurred last year on Feb. 21 (230.550-227.225). That class, however, maintains a perfect 9-0 consecutive unbeaten dual-meet record streak at home.%^$
%^$Team Scores%^$Ohio State (11-1/9-1) 227.100%^$Oklahoma (5-4) 226.225%^$
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Individual Event Winners%^$
%^$Floor Exercise Jamie Natalie, Ohio State 9.650%^$Pommel Horse Todd Bishop, Oklahoma 9.825%^$Still Rings Daren Lynch, Ohio State 9.850%^$Vault Daren Lynch, Ohio State 9.750%^$Parallel Bars Todd Bishop, Oklahoma 9.400%^$Horizontal Bar Todd Bishop, Oklahoma 9.925%^$All-Around Tim Elsner, Ohio State 57.600%^$%^$
