No. 1 Buckeyes Play Host To Minnesota in Home Opener – Ohio State Buckeyes
1/14/2004 12:00:00 AM | General, Men's Gymnastics
Jan. 14, 2004
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COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State men’s gymnastics team will kick off its 2004 home and dual meet schedule when it faces the Minnesota Golden Gophers at 7 p.m. Saturday at St. John Arena.
LAST TIME OUT-WINDY CITY INVITATIONAL
Ohio State finished first in the Windy City Invitational with a score of 215.750, Jan. 10 in Chicago at the UIC Physical Education Building. OSU recorded the highest team score on pommel horse and high bar with a 36.750 and 37.750, respectively. No. 3 Illinois was second, with a score of 214.425. No. 4 Michigan rounded out the Top 3, as it posted a mark of 214.100.
Junior Randy Monahan (Elizabethtown, Pa.) placed first in the all-around competition with a score of 54.150.
Four Buckeyes recorded career highs in the meet. Ronald Ferris (So., Austintown, Ohio) posted career highs on rings and high bar with a 8.25 and a 9.10 respectively. Tying his career high of 9.20 on pommel horse, Jamey Houle (Sr., Enfield, Conn.) also surpassed his career high of 8.80 on vault from a year ago with a score of 9.00. Monahan posted career high marks on rings (9.50) and high bar (9.650). Cody Trobaugh (Jr., Dallas, Texas) recorded a career high on high bar with a score of 9.65.
Ohio State was third after four events, trailing Illinois and Michigan. After strong performances on high bar with a team score of 37.750 and floor exercise (35.350), the Buckeyes were able to earn the victory.
OSU’s win marks the second consecutive year the team has taken first place at the meet. The team score of 215.750 posted by the Buckeyes is 2.750 points higher than their team score of a year ago. The team tallied a score of 213.00 in 2003.
2004 TEAM CAPTAINS
Seniors Jamey Houle and Jamie Shepard (Sr., Dayton, Ohio), along with junior Randy Monahan were voted the 2004 captains by their teammates. All three student-athletes were awarded the honor at the team’s annual tribute to past Buckeye greats in the Varsity Exhibition Jan. 3 at the Steelwood Athletic Training Facility.
UP NEXT
The Buckeyes will travel to Chicago for the second time this month as they will face Illinois-Chicago in a dual meet at 7 p.m. Jan. 24 at the UIC Physical Education Building.
Last season, Ohio State topped the Flames, 210.65-207.600. Randy Monahan took all-around honors, tallying 52.95 points. Kerry Adderly (Jr., Orlando, Fla.) posted then-career highs on rings (8.95) and parallel bar (9.0).
RETURNING ALL-AMERICANS
Ohio State returns two All-Americans who look to continue their success in 2004. Junior Kerry Adderly earned All-America honors on floor with a score of 9.312. Randy Monahan garnered the accolade when he placed fourth on the all-around, posting a career-high 54.55.
Both Adderly and Monahan have compiled a career total of two All-America honors.
SCOUTING MINNESOTA
Voted as the No. 8 team in the nation, Minnesota was one of five Big Ten teams to participate in the Windy City Invitational. The Golden Gophers finished the meet in sixth place.
Minnesota has a key returnee in junior Guillermo Alvarez. Alvarez was named to the 2003 All-Big Ten team for the second consecutive season for his performances in the all-around. He also garnered Big Ten Gymnast of the Week honors a conference-high three times.
After finishing fifth in the Big Ten championships in 2003, the Golden Gophers will look to senior Mitch Griffin and junior Clinton Mays to lead the team to the Big Ten and NCAA championship meets.
2003 – BUCKEYES VS. GOPHERS
Ohio State fell to Minnesota, 211.975-215.575 in Minneapolis, Minn., March 9, 2003. OSU topped Minnesota on floor, 37.255-37.025, and vault, 37.625-37.225. The Buckeyes posted a then-season high on floor.
Randy Monahan placed first on high bar, scoring a 9.275.
HEAD COACH FRED ROETHLISBERGER
Beginning his 33rd season with the Golden Gophers, Roethlisberger has led the Gophers 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, most recently Clay Strother and Guillermo Alvarez. His gymnasts have captured 51 individual Big Ten titles (including Clay Strother’s floor exercise title in 2003), and Roethlisberger’s program has continually produced United States National Team members.
Roethlisberger was inducted into the U.S. Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 1990 and has been named Big Ten Coach of the Year four times (1990-92 and 1995). He also was named Mideast Region Coach of the Year (’72, ’78, ’89, ’90 and ’92) and was named Coach of the Year by the United States Gymnastics Federation in ’90, ’92, ’93 and ’95.
GOLDEN PERFORMANCES
Since 1998, Ohio State has defeated Minnesota in three of the last four dual meetings.
Last season the Golden Gophers upset the Buckeyes, 215.575-211.975. Prior to last year, OSU had defeated Minnesota three consecutive times, including a 230.725 -221.075 win in 2000. The Buckeyes’ 9.65 margin of victory was the largest for the team in dual competition in 2000.
INVITING THE BEST
For the second consecutive year, Randy Monahan captured the all-around title in the Windy City Invitational. In 2003, Monahan won the event with a score of 53.85. In the competition this year, Monahan bettered his mark from a year ago by posting a 54.150, a score just .35 points shy of his career high (54.50). Monahan set his career high in the all-around during the 2003 Big Ten Championships.
BESTING THE BEST
Three different Buckeyes have posted career and season highs when facing Minnesota. Kerry Adderly surpassed his prior career highs by posting a 5.550 on pommel horse last season.
As a freshman in 2003, Ronald Ferris set season records with an 8.0 on rings, 9.125 on vault and a 51.975 on the all-around.
Jamey Houle recorded career highs against the Golden Gophers in 2001 on rings (8.40) and most recently on vault (8.8) in 2003.
Houle set additional season records against Minnesota on floor exercise with a 9.10 and rings with a 8.4.
FALLING IN THE WINDY CITY
Recording career highs at the Windy City Invitational is nothing new to Ohio State. Last season, two Buckeyes posted career highs, with two marks still standing. Jamey Houle recorded a 9.20 on pommel horse, a score he tied in the competition this year. Houle also earned a 51.75 on the all-around last season, a mark that continues to stand as Houle’s career high.
Randy Monahan earned a career high 8.80 on the pommel horse, before he bested the score in the NCAA championships later in the year.
HOME SWEET HOME
Over the past five years, Ohio State has garnered a 4-1 record in home openers, including a 210.65-207.60 victory over Illinois-Chicago last year. The Buckeyes’ most recent loss in a home opener occurred in 2002 when OSU fell to Illinois, 214.375-213.525.
Before last season, the Scarlet and Gray posted three consecutive home-opener wins over Illinois-Chicago in 2001, Michigan and Illinois in 2000 and Michigan State in 1999.
BUCKEYES IN THE RANKINGS
The Ohio State men’s gymnastics team is ranked first in the coaches preseason Top 15 poll. The Buckeyes garnered nine of the 14 first-place votes to edge out two-time defending national champion Oklahoma.
“It’s nice to receive the respect from the coaches by them voting for us,” Miles Avery, OSU head coach, said.
“They realize we have most of our team back and have added impressive freshmen.”
WHERE EVERYONE KNOWS YOUR NAME
Former Buckeye Michael Evans is beginning his first year as the student undergraduate assistant coach at OSU. Evans was a four-year letterwinner for Ohio State (2000 – ’03) and therefore is familiar with the Buckeye program.
Hailing from Houston, Texas, Evans is working toward a degree in business marketing.
NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK
Ohio State boasts five freshmen who will make an immediate impact on the 2004 Buckeye squad. Kristopher Kline (Fr., Westerville, Ohio) is a four-time national gymnastics qualifier and was coached by former Buckeye Mike Serra at Hocking Valley Gymnastics Center.
Also an alum of Hocking Valley Gymnastics Center and a prot©g© of Serra, Billy Baker (Fr., Zanesville, Ohio) was the state champion in the all-around and the high bar in 2000. Baker also was a member of the Junior Olympic national team and a six-time national qualifier.
Willie Ito comes to Ohio State having participated on the U.S. Junior National Team (1999-’03) where he was the all-around champion in 2000. Ito also was a four-time high bar junior national champion and a three-time parallel bars junior national champion. He is currently training for a spot on the Olympic and world championship teams.
As a member of the junior national team (1999-’00) and (2001-’03), Grant Osborne has trained at the U.S.O.T.C in Colorado, Springs, Colo. After qualifying for the U.S. national championships for the sixth consecutive year (1998-’03), Osborne placed as high as second in the all-around competition (2002).
Redshirt freshman Jahir Johnson (Fr., Toledo, Ohio) is a six-time regional qualifier and a three-time national qualifier. Johnson also has participated in both the Class IV and VI Ohio Championships, where he captured the all-around titles.
2004 PROMOTIONAL CALENDAR
Throughout the men’s gymnastics home schedule, fans can enjoy group packages at discounted prices. Offers are valid on tickets and concession items. As well during the Penn State meet, the final home competition of the season, any gymnastics club attending will have the opportunity to register to win a piece of gymnastics equipment.
FIND OUT ON THE WEB
Keep track of the latest men’s gymnastics news, scores and stats by logging on to the official Ohio State athletic website at ohiostatebuckeyes.com.
