No. 3 Men’s Gymnastics Finishes Third In Big Ten Championship – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/19/2004 12:00:00 AM | General, Men's Gymnastics
March 19, 2004
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The No. 3 Ohio State men’s gymnastics team finished third at the 2004 Big Ten Men’s Gymnastics Championships at Huff Hall in Champaign, Ill, Friday, with a score of 218.425. No. 1 Illinois captured the title, with the winning score of 221.975 and No. 4 Penn State was a close second, tallying 220.100 points. No. 6 Iowa (216.800), No. 7 Michigan (216.375) and No. 11 Minnesota (177.925) claimed the 4, 5 and 6 spots, respectively.
Ohio State began the competition on pommel horse where it posted a 35.950 to start the meet in fifth place. However, the Buckeyes moved up two spots after posting a 36.850 on rings and remained in third following the third rotation on vault (36.650). After compiling a 35.40 on parallel bars, OSU slipped to fourth, but rebounded on high bar, recording a 37.050 to climb back to third place. Ohio State scored a 36.525 on floor to conclude the competition.
Randy Monahan (Jr.; Elizabethtown, Pa.) defended his conference all-around crown, scoring a 55.675. Monahan is the first Buckeye since Blaine Wilson (1994-97) to win back-to-back titles.
Individual event finals begin at 7 p.m. Saturday at Huff Hall. The Top 8 finishers from each discipline qualify for the finals with the winner earning All-Big Ten. Buckeyes who qualified for the individual event finals include Kerry Adderly (Jr.; Orlando, Fla.), who finished fifth on parallel bars with a score of 9.0. Ronald Ferris (So.; Austintown, Ohio) completed the high bar routine sixth, scoring a 9.450. Freshman Willie Ito (Fr.; Huntington Beach, Calif.) recorded a 9.575 on high bar to finish tied for third. Monahan advanced to four of the six event finals, placing first on high bar (9.675), second on floor (9.650), tied for second on rings (9.550) and tied for eighth on parallel bars (8.8). Cody Trobaugh finished tied for third on both vault and parallel bars (9.425 and 9.1, respectively) and recorded a 9.4 on rings to place fifth.
The 2004 Big Ten championships will continue to have live updates on www.bigten.org for the event finals Saturday. Both sessions I and II will be shown tape-delayed on CSTV at 8:30 p.m. March 27.
Following the conference championships, the Buckeyes look to be one of 12 teams invited to the national qualifier, the prelude to the 2004 NCAA Men’s Gymnastics Championships April 2-4 at Assembly Hall in Champaign, Ill. The 12 teams earning the chance to compete for the national championship will be announced March 23.
