Men’s Gymnastics Returns To Chicago – Ohio State Buckeyes
1/30/2002 12:00:00 AM | General, Men's Gymnastics
Jan. 30, 2002
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%^$%^$About the Meet
%^$The Ohio State men’s gymnastics team will be making its second trip of the season to Chicago Saturday to take on the University of Illinois-Chicago.%^$
%^$OSU competed in the Windy City Invitational, which was hosted by UIC, on Jan. 12 and finished fourth against some of the elite teams in the nation.%^$
%^$Ohio State head coach Miles Avery said his team has been working hard on their routines since the Windy City. Avery expects his team to be much sharper than in its season opening event.%^$
%^$”Other teams have been working on their routines since November while we didn’t begin working on our routines until four weeks ago,” Avery said.%^$
%^$”At the Windy City we hit two routines and I expect us to hit around 50 percent of our routines this weekend.”%^$
%^$Bhavsar Sitting Out
%^$Junior Raj Bhavsar will sit out the second consecutive competition as a healthy scratch.%^$
%^$Head coach Miles Avery said Bhavsar had a long year last year and he needs to learn to enjoy gymnastics again.%^$
%^$”Raj (Bhavsar) competed from January to November last year, which is an extremely long competitive year, and he just needs to learn how to have fun again and get better,” Avery said.%^$
%^$Avery also said it also is a reward for those who are working hard to get into competition form.%^$
%^$”By sitting Raj (Bhavsar) it gives other guys that might not have the opportunity to compete, an opportunity to compete,” Avery said.%^$
%^$At The Helm
%^$Miles Avery, the 2001 National Coach of the Year and Big Ten Coach of the Year, returns for his fifth season at the helm of the Buckeyes.%^$
%^$Avery was an assistant coach for the Buckeyes for nine seasons before he was named head coach in 1998. In his tenure, the Buckeyes have extended their streak of NCAA appearances to 21.%^$
%^$Winter Cup Challenge
%^$Eight of the OSU men’s gymnasts will be travelling to Las Vegas to compete in the Winter cup Challenge Feb. 8-9. The event is hosted by USA Gymnastics and will feature over 100 athletes 15 and up competing in one division.
%^$Ohio State will send:
%^$Raj Bhavsar
%^$Jamey Houle
%^$Dick Huntwork
%^$Randy Monahan
%^$Michael Evans
%^$Ryan Schwartzkopf
%^$Cody Trobaugh
%^$Eric VanSickle
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%^$The Ohio State men’s gymnastics team opened its season at the Windy City Invitational, hosted by Illinois-Chicago, tonight, finishing fourth. The Buckeyes, ranked third in the preseason, totaled 203.325 points. No. 7 Iowa won the competition (207.650), followed by No. 5 Illinois (207.175) and No. 2 Michigan (206.850). No. 8 Minnesota and host UIC rounded out the scoring.%^$
%^$Freshman Randy Monahan, who was the only Buckeye to compete in the all-around, finished sixth in the competition. The meet marked the first collegiate competition for Buckeye freshmen Monahan, Kerry Adderly (Orlando, Fla.) and Cody Trobaugh (Dallas, Texas).%^$
%^$Buckeyes Help U.S. Win Silver
%^$Ohio State men’s gymnast Raj Bhavsar (Jr., Houston, Texas) was part of the U.S. team that earned the silver medal at the 2001 World Gymnastics Championships in Ghent, Belgium, Oct. 31. It is the first silver medal ever won by the United States. Ohio State head coach Miles Avery is an assistant coach for the U.S. squad.%^$
%^$Belarus won the gold medal with a score of 169.622, followed by the U.S. with a total of 166.845. Ukraine was third (165.483), followed by France (165.283). Defending Olympic champion China (165.26) was fifth.%^$
%^$The last time the United States won a medal at the world championships was in 1979, when the squad earned bronze in Fort Worth, Texas.%^$
%^$The U.S. team included Bhavsar, Paul Hamm, Stephen McCain, Brett McClure, Sean Townsend and Guard Young. In all, teams from 40 nations competed in the event, which included a qualification round and the finals.%^$
%^$Bhavsar placed 21st in the all-around qualifier (out of 268 gymnasts), posting a score of 53.836. He did not compete in the all-around finals.%^$
%^$”This feels absolutely great,” Bhavsar said. “This has been a superb year for me, winning NCAA’s and then this. I love team meets. Just knowing that we made history here today is unbelievable. It hasn’t even sunken in yet. Bring on the next one in 2003.”%^$
%^$Newcomers
%^$The Buckeyes have turned recruiting into an art form of sorts. The current junior class was widely regarded as the best in the nation and the 2002 freshman class has garnered many comparisons. Randy Monahan (Elizabethtown, Pa./Central Pennsylvania Academy of Gymnastics) becomes the third consecutive Junior Olympic national champion to enter Ohio State. Monahan follows in the tradition of 2000 champion Houle and 1999 champ Bhavsar. Monahan claimed the title after posting an all-around score of 54.150 in the championship.%^$
%^$Freshman teammate Kerry Adderly (Orlando, Fla./Orlando Metro Gymnastics) placed 18th in the J.O. competition, but is widely considered to be one of the top college prospects in the nation. Another member of the freshman class is Cody Trobaugh (Houston, Texas/Houston Gymnastics Academy). Trobaugh will be reunited with Evans, his former club teammate.%^$
%^$”Those three freshmen are extremely talented,” Avery said. “They’ll be fighting over who will contribute the most, which can only help our team. It’ll be fun to work with this much talent.”%^$
%^$Two freshmen gymnasts from the Columbus area, Phil McClellan (Amanda, Ohio/Hocking Valley Gymanstics Center) and Tim Saxton (Pickerington, Ohio/Hocking Valley Gymnastics Center), also will join the Buckeyes this season. Their squad captured the state and regional championships last season.%^$
