Athletics Good Stuff – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/17/2004 12:00:00 AM | General
March 17, 2004
Athletes of the Week
Senior Dan Taylor became the first student-athlete in NCAAhistory to complete the sweep of the throw events at the 2004 NCAAIndoor Track and Field Championships in Fayetteville, Ark. with afirst-place measure in the weight throw Saturday afternoon. Taylor,who holds the American collegiate record in the weight at 78 feet,9 L inches (78-9.25/24.01m), tossed a mark of 77-7.50(23.66m) to top runner-up Keith McBride of Purdue (71-2.75/ 21.71m)by more than 6 feet.
Friday at the event, which was held at the University of Arkansas’s Randall Tyson Indoor Track Center, Taylor bested the field in the shot put with a heave of 66-7.25 (20.30m) to claim Ohio State’s first NCAA indoor title since 2001. With the wins, Taylor became the first Buckeye to win multiple NCAA crowns in the same indoor season since 1932.
Senior gymnast Tiffanie Janke (Schaumberg, Ill.) finished her2004 regular season on a high note last Saturday at the annualEagle Classic in Ypsilanti, Mich. Janke finished first, for thethird time this season, in the all-around with a career-high tying39.575, as she helped propel the Buckeyes to a 195.275 point secondplace finish. Janke finished the day with first place finishes onbars (9.875) and floor (9.900) and second place finishes on bothvault (9.875) and beam (9.875).
Athletics Good Stuff
The No. 6-seed women’s basketball team (20-9; 11-5 Big Ten)will play host to No. 11-seed West Virginia (21-10; 10-6 Big East)in the first round of the 2004 NCAA Division I Women’s BasketballChampionship at 11 a.m. Saturday in St. John Arena. No. 3 BostonCollege (25-6) and No. 14 Eastern Michigan (22-7) will also competein first round NCAA action 30 minutes after the end of the OhioState-West Virginia game at St. John Arena Saturday. The winner ofboth contests will meet Monday in St. John Arena for a trip to theSweet 16 in Norfolk, Va. Game time for Monday will be determined atthe conclusion of the BC-EMU contest. Tickets are available bycalling 1-800-GOBUCKS or by logging on to www.hangonsloopy.com . Inits last action, the wrestling team served as the host of the 2004Big Ten Championships in St. John Arena. The Buckeyes were led by atitle-winning run from senior HWT Tommy Rowlands as he claimed hissecond career conference crown. The win afforded Rowlands hisfourth trip to the NCAA championships March 18-20 in St. Louis.
Rowlands is among five Buckeyes to earn bids to the national meet this season as fellow seniors John Clark at 165, Blake Kaplan at 184 and Jeff Ratliff at 149 all make their third and fourth trips to nationals. In addition, freshman J.D. Bergman will make his initial appearance at 197 pounds after placing fifth at the Big Ten meet.
The seeds for each weight class were announced Tuesday as Rowlands laid claim to the No. 1 slot at HWT, while Clark earned the 10th seed at 165 and Ratliff was entered as No. 11 at 149. Kaplan and Bergman are penciled in the bracket as unseeded wrestlers.
After a first-round series sweep of Bowling Green last weekendby 3-2 and 5- 2 scores, the No. 11t/12 men’s hockey team (23-15-0,16-12-0/4th CCHA) travels to Detroit for the CCHA Super SixChampionship at Joe Louis Arena Thursday-Saturday. The No. 4-seedBuckeyes will face No. 5-seed Notre Dame in the quarterfinal roundat 7:35 p.m. Thursday. No. 3 Michigan State faces No. 6 NorthernMichigan at 4:05 p.m. prior to the OSU-ND matchup. No. 1 Michiganand No. 2 Miami earned byes into the semifinals. Out of thequarterfinals, the lowest remaining seed will face Michigan at 4:05p.m. Friday, while the highest remaining seed will take on Miami at7:35 p.m. Friday. The semifinal winners will meet in thechampionship at 7:05 p.m. Saturday, while the semifinal losers willface off in the consolation game at 3:35 p.m. Saturday. Thetournament winner receives the league’s automatic bid into the NCAAtournament.
Against the Falcons, Buckeye senior Dave Steckel led the way. He had two assists in the opener (including his 100th career point) and scored twice, including the gamewinner, in the series-clinching win Saturday.
The fencing team competed Sunday at the 2004 RegionalChampionships in Evanston, Ill. Buckeyes Adam Crompton (sabre),Denis Tolkachev (epee) and Marguerite Plekhanov (sabre) eachfinished first in their respective weapons at regional competition.Ohio State will wrap up season play March 25-28 at the NCAAChampionship hosted by Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass. TheNCAA will announce the field for the NCAA Championships onThursday, March 18. A team can qualify a maximum of 12 competitorsto the championships. The men’s golf team returns to actionSaturday and Sunday to compete in the 2004 Schenkel EZ-GoInvitational in Statesboro, Ga. Georgia Southern University willplay host to the event, at the par 72, 6,809-yard Forest HeightsCountry Club.Senior golfers Zach Doran (Dublin, Ohio/ColumbusAcademy) and Kevin Hall (Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Rita For The Deaf)lead the charge as the Buckeyes will be gunning for theirthird-consecutive Top 5 finish. Senior Dan Taylor, who won both theshot put and weight throw national titles at the NCAA meet, was notthe only Buckeye to gain All-American status in multiple events assophomore thrower Amarachi Ukabam tallied a ninth-place standingthe shot put with a personal-best 54-11.25 and a 11th-place effortin the weight with a measure of 63-11.50, which fell directlybehind teammate and fellow All-America honoree, Keturah Lofton, whoreached 65-11.
The fourth Buckeye to merit All-American was junior jumper Rosalind Goodwin, who posted a 12th-place finish in the triple jump with a leap of 42-0.50. Goodwin also competed in the long jump, where she added another 12th-place finish, falling just shy of All-American distance at 19-8.
Ohio State opens the outdoor season with its annual spring trip. For the second straight year, Ohio State travels west to Tempe, Ariz. and the campus of Arizona State University for the Baldy Castillo Classic March 19-20.
Buckeyes Jackie Leskovar (Sr., Cambridge, Ontario/N.C. State), Lindsey Adams (Jr., Mercer Island, Wash./Mercer Island), Emily DeCamilla (Jr., Sacramento, Calif./Maryland) and Lindsay Williams (Sr., Beverly Hills, Mich./Birmingham Grove) scored singles victories as Ohio State slipped past Auburn, 4-3, Saturday. Adams’ victory was her third consecutive and the match was the first of the year the Buckeyes won without winning the doubles point. Adams and Meredith Vincent (Jr., Cincinnati, Ohio/Virgina Tech) teamed in doubles to pick up the Buckeyes only victory in a 7-0 loss to No. 38 Georgia Tech. For the season, Adams’ 13 singles victories are second on the team to Kristin Messmer’s (Fr., Lutherville, Md./McDonogh) 15. The Buckeyes close out their non-conference schedule with road matches against TCU at noon Saturday and UNLV at 2 p.m. March 23.
Head coach Larry Cox tallied his 250th and 251st victory as the women’s gymnastics team (9-7-1; 0-3-1 Big Ten) placed second at the 2004 Eagle Classic hosted by the Eastern Michigan Eagles in Ypsilanti, Mich. The victories give Cox a career record of 251-138-3. The Buckeyes posted a score of 195.275 to edge Eastern Michigan (195.200) and the Southeast Missouri State Otahks (194.150). Michigan State claimed the meet with a score of 195.700. The Buckeyes were led by senior Tiffanie Janke (Schaumberg, Ill.), who finished first in the all-around with a 39.575. Janke also finished first on bars with a 9.875, tied for first on floor with a 9.900 and tied for second on both beam (9.875) and vault (9.875). Junior Elizabeth Meaney (Ashtabula, Ohio) finished third in the all-around with a 39.200 and tied teammate Brittany Livingston (Lisle, Ill.) for second on floor with a 9.875.
Buckeye sophomore Ben Wolff scored three goals to lead the men’s lacrosse team to an 8-4 victory over Drexel Saturday at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. The win improved the Buckeyes’ record this season to 2-2. Ohio State returns to action Saturday when it travels to Hamden, Conn., to face Quinnipiac at noon. The game vs. the Bobcats is the first of four road games in a row for the Buckeyes, as the squad will face Marist Monday, Hartford Thursday, March 25 and Notre Dame March 31.
The women’s hockey team ended its season with a fourth-placefinish in the WCHA regular season and tournament. The squad went16-16-3 overall and was 10-12-2 in league play. At the WCHA FinalFive, the Buckeyes defeated Minnesota State, 3-1, in the firstround. OSU was defeated by No. 1 seed Minnesota, 5-1, in thesemifinals and fell in overtime to No. 2 Wisconsin in theconsolation game, 5-4.
Senior Emma Laaksonen ended her career with 99 points, as she had a goal and an assist in the WCHA Final Five. Laaksonen was named WCHA Student-Athlete of the Year, the first time a Buckeye picked up the award. Junior Jeni Creary had two goals and an assist to move her career point total to 100, breaking the OSU record of 98 set by Shana Frost. Freshman Tessa Bonhomme was named to the WCHA All-Rookie Team, the first time a Buckeye was so honored. Four Ohio State skaters were named to the WCHA All-Academic squad – Laaksonen, Creary, Katie Sershen and Melissa Glaser.
The No. 11 men’s tennis team defeated Penn State, 6-1, in theBig Ten opener Sunday at the Penn State Tennis Center in UniversityPark, Pa. With the win, the Buckeyes improved to 10-2 overall and1-0 in conference action, while Penn State fell to 9-3. This wasOhio State’s fourth-consecutive win in conference openers. TheBuckeyes shut out the Penn State, 7-0, last season, defeatedWisconsin, 6-1, in 2002 and handed the Nittany Lions a 6-1 decisionin 2001. Ohio State is back in action over spring break as the teamtravels to face Coastal Carolina March 23 in Myrtle Beach, S.C. TheBuckeyes return to Columbus and play host to conference foesMichigan State and Michigan, March 27 and 28. The softball team(12-7) posted a 5-1 record and earned a runner-up finish lastweekend at the Winthrop Invitational in Rock Hill, S.C. Prior to aloss in the tournament championship game, the Buckeyes had wontheir previous seven consecutive games, outscoring their opponents55-7 during that span. Sophomore Chelsea Baker and freshman MeganSchwab both were named to the all-tournament team. Baker pitched 15innings during the weekend without giving up an earned run whilebatting .467 at the plate. Schwab posted a .412 batting average inthe tournament with a homerun and six RBI. Ohio State will host theBuckeye Invitational March 19-21, beginning with a 4 p.m. game vs.Loyola-Chicago, as the Buckeyes see their first home action of theseason. The pistol team will compete in all five events at theupcoming NRA Intercollegiate Pistol Championship at Ft. Benning,Georgia, starting Thursday, March 18. Based on sectional matcheslast month, Ohio State is ranked second in free pistol with a 2,023score. The Buckeyes qualified fourth in air pistol at 2,180 andsecond in standard pistol at 2,141. The United State Naval Academywas the top qualifier in these three events with a 2,046 in free, a2,233 in air and a 2,170 in standard. The Buckeyes were the topqualifiers in women’s air pistol (1,081) and women’s sport pistol(1,632).
OSU’s Jessica Marshall is the 2003 defending national champion in women’s sport and air pistol. She also place fourth last season in the air and standard open championships. Ohio State finished fourth in the open (air, standard and free) championship in 2003.
No.13 men’s volleyball (12-6 overall, 5-3 MIVA) won its fourthconsecutive match with a 3-0 (30-22, 30-20, 30-28) victory againstSt. Francis last Friday in St. John Arena. Mark Greaves scored amatch-high 15 kills in the win with Layne Dreven adding nine. OSUwill play on the road for the next three weeks starting withmatches at Loyola (12-6, 7-3) Friday, March 19 and at Clarke (4-11,0-11) Saturday, March 20. No. 19 women’s lacrosse (1-3 overall, 0-2ALC) dropped a 13-5 decision at No. 17 Johns Hopkins last Sunday.Any Tulk scored two goals for the Buckeyes with Kelyn Laws, AshleyEvans and Caroline Weatherill adding single tallies. The Buckeyewill host Richmond (2-2) in a non-conference contest at noon,Saturday, March 20. Four Ohio State divers qualified for the NCAAchampionships at the 2004 NCAA Zone C Qualifier, March 12-14, inBloomington, Ind. after their performances in the 1- and 3-meterdives and in the platform dive. Divers from across the Midwestparticipated at the qualifier, hoping to earn a spot at the men’sand women’s NCAA swimming and diving championships. Ohio State wasthe only school to qualify four student-athletes for the nationalchampionships. Julie Broms (Fr., Springfield, Ill./NorthCentral[Ind.]) led the women’s squad with a first-place finish inthe 3-meter dive, defeating 2004 Big Ten Champion CarrieMcCambridge of Purdue by more than three points. Ashley Bourland(Fr., Conroe, Texas/Montgomery) qualified for the platform dive andwill be the only Buckeye to compete in both the springboard eventsand in the platform dive at the national championships. MitchRicheson (Jr., Greenwood, Ind./Greenwood), the 2004 Big TenChampion in the 3-meter dive, finished the 3-meter dive insecond-palce and the 1-meter dive in fourth place, while KellenHarkness (Fr., Puyallup, Wash./Cascade Christian) posted afifth-place finish in the 3-meter dive. The Big Ten diving squadsdominated the men’s events and earned all six spots at thequalifier, with Ohio State being the only school to qualify twodivers.
Broms and Bourland will travel to College Station, Texas, March 18-20, for the women’s 2004 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships at the Student Recreation Center, while Richeson and Harkness will travel to Long Island, N.Y., March 25-27, for the men’s 2004 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships at the Nassau County Aquatic Center.
The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams were recognizedas Academic All-American teams by the College Swimming CoachesAssociation of America for their grade point averages from fallquarter. The women’s squad had the ninth-highest team GPA in thecountry with a 3.420 average and posted the highest team GPA in theBig Ten Conference. The men’s squad was ranked 24th with a 3.050team average and had the third-highest team average in the Big Ten.The baseball Buckeyes improved to 5-7 on the season picking up twowins at the Coca-Cola Classic in Mobile March 12-14. Ohio Stateopened with an 8-1 victory against McNeese State, lost 7-3 to SouthAlabama and then rebounded to defeat Winthrop 6-4 in the weekendfinale. Ohio State will travel to Boca Raton, Fla. March 19-24 forits annual spring break trip. The Buckeyes will meet Rider at 2p.m. Friday and Rutgers at 1 p.m. Saturday before a pair of gamesat No. 14 Florida Atlantic, March 23-24. Ohio State infielderJedidiah Stephen and left-handed pitcher Josh Newman have beennamed the Big Ten Baseball Player and Co-Pitcher of the Week,respectively, the conference office announced March 16. Stephen, asophomore from Caldwell, Ohio (Shenandoah) led Ohio State to winsagainst McNeese State and Winthrop in the classic by batting .727(8-for-11) with two home runs and five runs batted in to earn BigTen Player of the Week honors. He was perfect at the plate in hisfirst two games, going 4-for-4 with a homer and two RBI in the winover McNeese State before batting 3-for-3 with another long ball, adouble and three RBI against South Alabama. Newman, a senior fromWheelersburg, Ohio (Wheelersburg) racked up a season-high sevenstrikeouts and no walks to pick up the win over McNeese State. Thesenior right-hander went 7.2 innings and allowed only four hits andone unearned run. Newman picked up the 26th victory of his careerand has now pitched 292.1 career innings for the Buckeyes, whichranks sixth on the school’s all-time list. Men’s head swimmingcoach Bill Wadley will speak at the NCAA Youth Education throughSports Clinic at the 2004 NCAA Men’s Swimming and DivingChampionships March 21 in Long Island, N.Y. Rob Kauscher, a juniorfrom Cincinnati, Ohio, will join Wadley as a student-athlete mentorand will assist with in-pool demonstrations and mentoringactivities. The NCAA YES Clinic is held annually at the site of theNCAA championships and gives local athletes an opportunity to learnswimming skills from NCAA head coaches in a swimming clinicsetting. This will be Wadley’s third time participating in theclinic. Four members of the men’s gymnastics team recorded careerhighs Saturday night in their meet against No. 7 Michigan in AnnArbor, Mich. Ronald Ferris (So.; Austintown, Ohio) and Jamey Houle(Sr.; Enfield, Conn.) finished one and two on pommel horse, postingcareer highs (9.55 and 9.325, respectively). In addition to winninghis seventh all-around competition of the season (55.325), juniorRandy Monahan (Elizabethtown, Pa.) recorded a career-high on vaultto finish first, scoring a 9.6. Surpassing his former career-highof 9.150 on high bar, Jamie Shepard (Sr.; Dayton, Ohio) posted a9.2.
Up next for Ohio State is the 2004 Big Ten Championships March 19-20 at Huff Hall in Champaign, Ill.
Ohio State Athletics Schedule
Thursday, March 18-Monday, March 22
All Times Eastern
Thursday, March 18
Men’s Hockey vs. Notre Dame, 7:35 p.m.
CCHA Super Six
Detroit, Mich.
Wrestling at NCAA Championships
St. Louis, Mo.
Pistol at NRA Intercollegiate Pistol Championship
Fort Benning, Ga.
Women’s Diving at NCAA Championships
College Station, Texas
Friday, March 19
Baseball vs. Rider, 2 p.m.
Boca Raton, Fla.
Softball vs. Loyola-Chicago/Robert Morris, 4 p.m./6 p.m.
Buckeye Field
Men’s Gymnastics at Big Ten Championships, 8 p.m.
Champaign, Ill.
Men’s Volleyball at Loyola-Chicago, 8 p.m.
Chicago, Ill.
Pistol at NRA Intercollegiate Pistol Championship
Fort Benning, Ga.
Track at Baldy Castillo Classic
Tempe, Ariz.
Wrestling at NCAA Championships
St. Louis, Mo.
Women’s Diving at NCAA Championships
College Station, Texas
Men’s Hockey vs. Miami or Michigan, 4:05 p.m. or 7:35 p.m.
CCHA Super Six
Detroit, Mich.
Saturday, March 20
Women’s Lacrosse vs. Richmond, Noon
Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium
Men’s Lacrosse at Quinnipaic, Noon
Hamden, Conn.
Women’s Tennis at TCU, 1 p.m.
Fort Worth, Texas
Baseball vs. Rutgers, 1 p.m.
Boca Raton, Fla.
Women’s Gymnastics at Big Ten Championships
Minneapolis, Minn.
Softball vs. Northern Illinois, 7 p.m.
Buckeye Field
Men’s Volleyball at Clarke, 8 p.m.
Dubuque, Iowa
Men’s Gymnastics at Big Ten Championships, 8 p.m.
Champaign, Ill.
Women’s Diving at NCAA Championships
College Station, Texas
Women’s Basketball vs. West Virginia, 11 a.m.
NCAA Tournament First Round
St. John Arena
Men’s Hockey vs. TBA, 3:35 p.m. or 7:05 p.m.
CCHA Super Six
Detroit, Mich.
Pistol at NRA Intercollegiate Pistol Championship
Fort Benning, Ga.
Track at Baldy Castillo Classic
Tempe, Ariz.
Wrestling at NCAA Championships
St. Louis, Mo.
Men’s Golf at Schenkel EZ-Go Invitational
Statesboro, Ga.
Sunday, March 21
Softball vs. Oakland, 4 p.m.
Buckeye Field
Men’s Golf at Schenkel EZ-Go Invitational
Statesboro, Ga.
Pistol at NRA Intercollegiate Pistol Championship
Fort Benning, Ga.
Monday, March 22
Men’s Lacrosse at Marist, 3 p.m.
Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
