No. 1 Men’s Gymnastics Claims Big Ten Championship – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/26/2005 12:00:00 AM | General, Men's Gymnastics
March 26, 2005
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The No. 1 Ohio State men’s gymnastics team claimed its first Big Ten title since 2002 Friday, posting a score of 225.350 to win the 2005 Big Ten Championship in Ann Arbor, Mich. OSU bested No. 3 Illinois (224.125) and host No. 5 Michigan (222.775). The Buckeyes broke open a close meet with a program-record 38.775 on high bar in the fifth rotation and clinched the victory with a 37.90 on floor. In all, Ohio State won three events in the meet. The conference title was the 10th in Buckeye program history.
Buckeye senior co-captain Randy Monahan (Elizabethtown, Pa./Central Pennsylvania Academy of Gymnastics), placed fourth in the all-around with a score of 55.30, earning All-Big Ten honors for the third time in his career. Monahan placed second (tied) on rings with a 9.7.
“It feels great to win the championship,” Miles Avery, Ohio State head coach said. “We didn’t make it easy, but now we have a championship to celebrate. Now we’ll move on to our goal of winning a national championship.”
The Buckeyes’ score of 225.350 continued the squad’s strong performances away from home this season. OSU, who also has the highest NCAA team score recorded since 2000 (226.9), has the Top 3 road scores in the nation this campaign.
The Buckeyes swept the Top 3 spots on high bar en route to their record-setting score. Willie Ito (Huntington Beach, Calif./South Coast Gymnastics) was first with a score of 9.85, followed by Ron Ferris (Jr., Austintown, Ohio/Ohio Gymnastics Institute) with a 9.80 and Monahan with a 9.650. Freshman D.J. Bucher (Fr., Mason, Ohio/Queen City Gymnastics) placed sixth with a 9.475. Bucher also won the parallel bars title with a score of 9.725. He was the only freshman to qualify into more than one event final, as he will compete for high bar, parallel bars and still rings titles.
Senior co-captain Cody Trobaugh (Dallas, Texas/Houston Gym. Academy) was OSU’s top finisher on vault with a 9.40 and tied for fourth on rings with a 9.65. Ferris was the Buckeyes’ top finisher on pommel horse, with a 9.45 to tie for fifth.
Athletes placing in the Top 8 (including ties) of each event qualified to the individual event finals, which will be held at 7 p.m. Saturday in Ann Arbor, Mich. In all, OSU qualified 11 routines into the finals – Ito (HB, PB), Ferris (HB, PH), Bucher (HB, PB), Monahan (FX, R), Nicholaus Searcy (So., Dublin, Ohio/Hocking Valley Gym.) (PB) and Trobaugh (V, R).
All-Around
4. Monahan (55.35)
Floor
6t. Monahan (9.65)
9t. Wickham (9.525)
11t. Osborne (9.45)
13. Trobaugh (9.375)
19. Ferris (9.025)
20. Ebrahimi (9.00)
Rings
2t. Monahan (9.70)
4t. Trobaugh (9.65)
7. Bucher (9.575)
31t. Ebrahimi (8.55)
31t. Kline (8.55)
36. Ito (8.05)
Vault
5t. Trobaugh (9.40)
10. Wickham (9.35)
16t. Monahan (9.25)
23t. Ferris (9.15)
23t. Ortiz (9.15)
29t. Searcy (8.90)
Pommel Horse
5t. Ferris (9.45)
9. Osborne (9.40)
11t. Bucher (9.30)
24. Marino (8.60)
32t. Monahan (8.15)
36. Ito (7.60)
Parallel Bars
1. Bucher (9.725)
5t. Searcy (9.35)
8t. Ito (9.20)
10. Osborne (9.025)
11. Monahan (9.0)
13t. Trobaugh (8.95)
High Bar
1. Ito (9.85)
2. Ferris (9.80)
3. Monahan (9.65)
6. Bucher (9.475)
9t. Trobaugh (9.40)
20. Osborne (8.85)
