Men’s Gymnastics Travels to Russian Invitational – Ohio State Buckeyes
12/13/2006 12:00:00 AM | General, Men's Gymnastics
Dec. 13, 2006
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State men’s gymnastics head coach Miles Avery and assistant coach Dmitri Bilozertchev will lead a team of six Buckeye gymnasts at the 2006 Michael Voronin Cup Dec. 15-17 in Moscow. It will be the program’s first international competition under Avery in his 10-year tenure. The squad includes seniors Willie Ito, Kristopher Kline, Grant Osborne and Nicholaus Searcy, as well as juniors DJ Bucher and Jimmy Wickham.
Bilozertchev, a native of Moscow, will not only guide the American athletes in the competition, but will also act as a translator for the team. The two-time world champion (1983,’87) competed for the Russian National team and won the bronze medal in the all-around at the 1988 Olympic Games, as well as gold medals on pommel horse and rings. Entering his second year as assistant coach at Ohio State, Bilozertchev has enhanced the men’s program with his depth of knowledge and experience in the sport.
Making the trip to Russia are Ohio State’s three All-Americans from 2006. Ito (Sr., Huntington Beach, Calif./South Coast Gymnastics) earned the accolade on high bar, Bucher (Jr., Mason, Ohio/Queen City Gymnastics) received laurels on pommel horse and Wickham (Jr., Gulfport, Miss./Planet Gymnastics) captured the honor on vault. Filling the remaining three spots on the roster are Kline (Sr., Westerville, Ohio/Hocking Valley Gymnastics), Osborne (Sr., Fort Collins, Colo./USOTC) and Searcy (Sr., Dublin, Ohio/Hocking Valley Gymnastics). All three gymnasts impacted the Buckeye squad in the program’s Big Ten championships wins in 2005 and 2006. In addition, all six gymnasts participating at the invitational helped Ohio State to a near win at the 2005 national championships, scoring just .225 out of first place.
“This invitational will be a great experience for the guys,” Avery said. “To compete in Russia as a part of their collegiate experience is a great opportunity and who better to represent Ohio State men’s gymnastics than our seniors who have given so much to the program and our two junior All-Americans.”
For Ohio natives Kline and Searcy, this trip marks their first international competition.
“This is my first time competing internationally, so it’s going to be fun to go overseas and represent Ohio State,” Searcy said.
“Dmitri keeps telling us we are at the level of other international teams, so we are looking forward to proving that,” Kline said. “This is a unique chance for us as a U.S. team to compete at this invitational, so we are looking forward to showing other teams some USA gymnastics.”
After the invite, the four seniors and two juniors rejoin their teammates to wrap up preseason activities with the Varsity Exhibition Jan. 6. The Buckeyes start the regular season facing both conference and nonconference opponents when they travel to Chicago for the Windy City Invitational at 7 p.m. Jan. 13 at the UIC Physical Education Building.
