Nation’s Best Men’s Gymnastics Teams to Compete in Columbus – Ohio State Buckeyes
2/1/2000 12:00:00 AM | General, Men's Gymnastics
Feb. 1, 2000
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The top three teams in the nation, No. 1 Michigan, No. 2 Ohio State and No. 3 Illinois will compete Saturday night in St. John Arena (7 p.m.) in a key Big Ten match up with national rankings on the line. The Buckeyes look to stay undefeated this season (8-0) and extend their home winning streak to 12.
Scouting the Michigan Wolverines
The Big Ten and NCAA defending champion Michigan Wolverines come into St. John Arena ranked No. 1 in the country. The squad is led by U.S. National Team member Scott Vetere, who set a school record on the vault (9.850) Jan. 29 against Illinois-Chicago. He ranks second in the country in both the still rings (9.900) and the vault (9.850). As a freshman last season, he earned All-America honors in both the all-around and the still rings. Junior Justin Toman was the 1999 NCAA parallel bars champion and currently ranks second in the country in the floor exercise. Other standouts for UM include Kevin Roulston, who ranks No. 5 in the country in the vault, and Kris Zimmerman, who is tied for No. 2 on the parallel bars with a score of 9.900. Last season UM claimed 10 All-American honors en route to the squad’s third national title. The Wolverines will host No. 6 Penn State and No. 13 Minnesota on Friday (Feb. 4), before traveling to Columbus to face the Buckeyes.
Scouting the Illinois Fighting Illini
The Illini, ranked No. 3 in the coaches poll, come to Columbus with a 7-2 overall record. Leading the squad for Illinois is two-time national champion Travis Romagnoli, who currently ranks third in the country on the high bar (9.900). Junior Leo Oka is currently third in the nation with an all-around score of 57.000. Greg Cook set a school record on parallel bars (9.900) against Michigan State Jan. 29 and ranks No. 2 in the nation on that event. As a team, the Illini are second in the nation on the floor exercise and parallel bars, fourth on the high bar and still rings, and fifth on the vault.
The Coaches
For Michigan:
Kurt Golder is in his fourth season at the helm for Michigan. He has turned the program around since coming to Ann Arbor, as he took over a team that was 0-16 and finished last in the Big Ten and led the squad to the program’s first NCAA title since 1970 last season. In 1999, he was named National, Central Regional and Big Ten Coach of the Year.
For Illinois:
Head coach Yoshi Hayasaki has spent his entire collegiate coaching career at Illinois, and is currently in his 24th year at the helm. He served as head coach from 1974-93 and then took a few years to manage both the men’s and women’s teams as the director of gymnastics. He is in his fourth year back after his hiatus. Hayasaki was a two-time NCAA all-around champion while a student at the University of Washington.
The Last Meeting
Ohio State defeated both the Wolverines and the Illini at the Windy City Invitational (Jan. 15), to open this season. The Buckeyes placed first out of seven teams with a score of 225.725. Michigan was the runner-up in the meet, while Illinois placed third.
Ohio State’s Coach
Miles Avery is in his third season as the head coach of the Buckeyes. In just his second season at the helm, he led OSU to a runner-up finish at the NCAA Championships. Before being named head coach, Avery had been an assistant coach at OSU for nine years. In addition to coaching at the collegiate level, Avery has also been on the coaching staff for many international competitions, including the 1998 Goodwill Games, the 1996 Olympic Games and the 1994 World Championship.
The Team Rankings
In the new coaches poll released by GymInfo (Jan. 31), the Buckeyes are ranked second, behind only Michigan. Illinois follows in the third spot, with Nebraska fourth and Iowa in fifth. In the rankings based on scores, Ohio State leads the nation in the parallel bars, the floor exercise and the high bar, is second on the vault and pommel horse and is third in team score and the still rings.
Nationally Ranked Individual Buckeyes
Jamie Natalie ranks in the top five in every apparatus except the vault. He leads the nation in the parallel bars (9.925) and the all-around (58.175), ranks second in the high bar (9.925), is third in the pommel horse (9.900) and is tied for fifth in the floor exercise (9.800).
In addition to Natalie, other Buckeyes also rank in the Top 10 in the country. Michael Morgan is tied for fifth on the floor exercise, while Bhavsar is fourth on the still rings, fifth (tied) on the pommel horse and sixth (tied) on the parallel bars. Daren Lynch ranks third in the country with his score of 9.800 on the vault.
Last Week at Oklahoma
Ohio State defeated the No. 7 Oklahoma Sooners, 228.100-228.025, Jan. 28 in Norman, Okla. The Buckeyes placed first as a team in four of six events. Raj Bhavsar paced the Buckeyes, winning two events and recording season and personal bests in all five events he competed in. Jamie Natalie won the parallel bars with a 9.800, while Daren Lynch snared the vault title with a 9.650. Natalie and Michael Morgan tied with Oklahoma’s Brendan O’Neil for first place on the floor exercise with a 9.800, a personal-best score for Natalie. Michael Evans was fourth on the floor exercise with a career-high 9.700.
Career Day for Bhavsar
Against Oklahoma, Bhavsar set career highs in every event he competed in. He won two events, claiming the pommel horse title with a 9.85 and was first on the still rings with a team season-best 9.850. In addition, he placed second on the parallel bars (9.700), was third on the high bar (9.450) and was eighth (tied) on the floor exercise with a 9.400.
Earning Big Ten Honors Already
Jamie Natalie has been named the Big Ten Gymnast of the Week twice through the first two weeks of the season. He received the first honor after winning the all-around title at the Windy City Invitational. Natalie again received the award after winning the all-around title at Michigan State. At the meet, he finished first and tied his career-high on the still rings and also won the parallel bars and the horizontal bar. He placed second on the pommel horse with a career-high 9.900.
The Streak
The Buckeyes have qualified for the NCAA Championships 19 consecutive years, a streak that more than quadruples that of any other NCAA Division I university in men’s gymnastics.
A Tough Conference
All seven of the schools in the Big Ten are ranked in the top 15 in the nation. Michigan is No. 1, followed by Ohio State, second, Illinois, third, Iowa, fifth, Penn State sixth, Michigan State, 10th, and Minnesota, 13th.
The 2000 Captains
Daren Lynch and Jay Nardelli were chosen as captains for this year’s squad in a vote by the team.
Lynch earned All-America honors last season after placing fifth on the vault at the NCAA Championships. He has been an academic All-American, an academic all-Big Ten selection and an OSU scholar-athlete honoree.
Nardelli is an OSU scholar-athlete and has been an academic all-Big Ten honoree. He set career highs on the pommel horse, still rings and all-around last season at the NCAA regional.
Recapping the 1999 Season
After starting last season slowly because of injuries, the Buckeyes regrouped to win the NCAA Eastern Regional and reach the NCAA Championships, where the squad finished second to Michigan. Five Buckeyes earned a total of six All-American awards and the Buckeyes also garnered two Big Ten titles. Doug Stibel led the squad after placing second on the parallel bars and sixth on the floor exercise at the NCAA Championships. Tim Elsner, who won the conference title on the floor exercise, and Jamie Natalie, who was fifth in the all-around, joined Stibel, the Big Ten horizontal bar champion, on the all-Big Ten squad.
Hosting Champions
After making historic St. John Arena its permanent home last season, the men’s gymnastics team will have the honor of hosting the 2001 NCAA Championships in the facility. The National Qualifier will be held April 5, with the National Finals April 6-7. The 13,276-seat venue will give many Columbus residents the opportunity to see top-level NCAA men’s gymnastics.
A New OSU Coach
Former Ohio State All-American Peter Landry has joined the team’s staff as an assistant coach after completing his eligibility last season. Landry was a member of the team from 1996-99 and was a member of the Buckeyes’ 1996 NCAA Championship squad. As a team captain last season, he was one of eight finalists for the prestigious Nissen Award, given to the outstanding senior collegiate gymnast in the country. Landry will oversee the entire recruiting process for the Buckeyes.
More Buckeyes Coaching Buckeyes
Five current Buckeyes were coached by former OSU gymnasts prior to coming to Ohio State: Jamie Natalie was coached by Thad Abbott (1993) at Prestige Gymnastics in Delaware, Earnest Nelson by Jim Knopp (90-93) of Flippers in Texas, Matthew Smith by Jason Mazzurco (91-94) at USA Gymnastics World in Utah, Ben Falkner by Peter Bastien (91-94) at the Ellis School of Gymnastics in Massachusetts and Dick Huntwork by Mike Serra (1988) at Hocking Valley Gymnastics in Ohio.
The U.S. National Team
Ohio State has a proud tradition of not only sending representatives to the Olympic Games, but of having those athletes perform extremely well for their country. In the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta Blaine Wilson and Kip Simons were members of the U.S. squad that finished fifth. Simons was a two-time World Championships team member and was a member of the gold-medal Pan American Games team in 1995.
Wilson, the only U.S. gymnast to claim four-consecutive national titles, is one of the United States’ top medal hopefuls at the 2000 Games in Sydney.
Ohio State has been represented recently at the John Hancock U.S. Gymnastics Championships by a number of different gymnasts. Last summer current Buckeyes Natalie, Nardelli and Bhavsar all competed in the senior event, while Evans and Huntwork competed in the junior division. Former Buckeye Doug Stibel was named to the U.S. National Team after finishing in the top 14 at the championships.
–GO BUCKS!–
