No. 3 Men’s Gymnastics Challenges No. 1 Oklahoma – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/4/2003 12:00:00 AM | General, Men's Gymnastics
March 4, 2003
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COLUMBUS, Ohio – The No. 3 Ohio State men’s gymnastics team will travel to Norman, Okla., to face No. 1 Oklahoma and Stanford at 7 p.m. Friday at the Lloyd Noble Center. The Buckeyes will continue on to Minneapolis, Minn., to meet No. 12 Minnesota at 1 p.m. Sunday in the Sports Arena.
BUCKEYES IN THE RANKINGS
After opening the season at No. 2 behind defending national champion Oklahoma, the Buckeyes dropped to third in the Gymnastics Info Poll with 213.0 points scored at the Windy City Invitational. Penn State moved into first place after recording a 217.25 score and Oklahoma slipped to second after it compiled 214.275 points.
The Top-3 remained the same until the Feb. 24 poll, where Ohio State’s 220.5 against Nebraska Feb. 14 and 216.85 against Penn State Feb. 22 combine for a 218.687, which placed the Buckeyes in first place in front of Penn State (218.625).
After a week off, Oklahoma and Penn State pushed ahead of Ohio State in the March 4 polls. Oklahoma posted a 218.062 average to claim the No. 1 spot, Penn State compiled a 217.250 average to land in second and No. 3 Ohio State carries a 216.362 average.
For individual events, Ohio State ranks No. 1 on floor, No. 2 on vault, No.5 on pommel horse and No. 4 on the other events. Individually, Randy Monahan is fourth in the nation on all-around with a 53.550 two-score average. Ryan Schwartzkopf ranks No. 3 on pommel horse with a 9.225 average and Dick Huntwork’s 9.3 average on floor ranks third.
SCOUTING OKLAHOMA
Oklahoma, the defending national champions, posted the second best team score in the nation with 220.075 points compiled on the road against Minnesota March 1. The score is .075 points behind the Buckeyes’ 220.5 scored Feb. 15 in St. John Arena.
Oklahoma has the No. 1 ranked all-around competitor, senior Daniel Furney, who posted a national-high 55.50 March 1 in Minneapolis, Minn., and carries a 54.65 two-score average. Furney also is ranked No. 1 on vault (9.50), No. 2 on parallel bars (9.350) and No. 3 on high bar (9.3).
Mark Williams is in his fourth year at the helm of Oklahoma’s men’s gymnastics program. Williams carries a .905 winning percentage during his first three seasons and has compiled a 67-7 record. He guided Oklahoma to the national title last year.
SERIES INFORMATION AGAINST OKLAHOMA
Ohio State enjoys a 15-5 advantage in dual match competition over Oklahoma. The teams last met in Norman, Okla., in the 2002 NCAA National Championship, where Oklahoma took first with a 219.30. Ohio State placed second by scoring 218.65 points.
On year before, the teams were in the same position but had the opposite outcome as the 2001 NCAA National Championship was in Columbus, Ohio, and Ohio State was victorious with a score of 218.125. Oklahoma placed second with 217.775 points.
SCOUTING STANFORD
Stanford is fresh off a second place finish March 1 in a five-way match where the Cardinal scored 213.0 points in their home arena, Burnham Pavilion. The Cardinal finished behind No. 4 California (216.525) but outscored Michigan, Nebraska and Washington.
Junior Dan Gill is Stanford’s top all-around competitor and carries a high score of 54.825 posted March 1.
Thom Glielmi is in his first season as head coach of the Stanford men’s gymnastics team, where he served as an assistant head coach last season. Glielmi has spent the previous three seasons as an assistant coach at Minnesota. While with the Golden Gophers, Glielmi was named the 2000-01 NCAA Assistant Coach of the Year.
SERIES INFO AGAINST STANFORD
Ohio State won the only meeting between the two schools over five years ago.
SCOUTING MINNESOTA
No. 12 Minnesota is coming off two-consecutive losses to Oklahoma (220.075-213.950) and Michigan (212.350-208.975); however, the Golden Gophers outscored the Sooners on floor exercise (36.575-36.050) and vault (37.550-36.700) and claimed three individual titles and outscored the Wolverines on vault (37.275-36.275) and parallel bars (34.400-34.450) and won four individual events.
Sophomore Guillermo Alvarez was named Big Ten Gymnast of the Week two-consecutive times this season. The second honor followed his performance in the Feb. 7-8 Winter Cup Challenge where he placed fourth in the all-around with a score of 52.925 and advanced to the finals in three events. In the finals he won floor with a final tally of 9.3.
In his 32nd season with the Golden Gophers, Fred Roethlisberger has led Minnesota to 11 Big Ten titles (four in the ’70s, three in the ’80s and four in the ’90s). He has coached a total of 22 All-Americans during his tenure, his gymnasts have captured 50 individual Big Ten titles and his program has continually produced United States National Team members.
SERIES INFO AGAINST MINNESOTA
Ohio State leads the non-tournament series against Minnesota 19-15. The last time Ohio State traveled to Minneapolis, Minn., was for the 2002 Big Ten Championships. Ohio State won the competition clinching its second-consecutive Big Ten championship. Raj Bhavsar was named the Big Ten Male Gymnast of the Year after winning the all-around and two individual titles, floor and pommel horse.
NEXT UP:
Ohio State will play host to Michigan at 7 p.m. March 15 in St. John Arena. This will mark the last competition before the Big Ten Championships March 28-29 in St. John Arena.
