Athletics Good Stuff – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/22/2006 12:00:00 AM | General
March 22, 2006
Athletes of the Week
Pistol team member Teresa Meyer won the women’s air pistolindividual championship at the National Collegiate Championshipsheld at Ft. Benning Ga. Meyer shot a 364 in the championship,placing second. The top shooters then shot in the championshipround. Meyer recorded a 97.1 in the finals to a 461.1 overall scoreto win the championship. She had finished second in the 2005Championship. Senior sabre fencer Adam Crompton and junior foilistBoaz Ellis won individual national titles at the NCAA fencingchampionships last week in Houston. Both fencers are the firstthree-time individual national champions in Ohio State history andled the Buckeyes to a third-place finish at the event for theirfifth-consecutive Top 5 finish. Ellis fenced teammate AndrasHoranyi for the national foil crown after he won 21 of his 23 boutsin the opening round-robin to earn the No. 2 seed. In sabre,Crompton entered the sabre champion bracket as the No. 1 seed with21 victories in the round-robin. Ellis has won his three nationaltitles in consecutive years, while Crompton won his titles in 2003,2004 and 2006.
Athletics Good Stuff
The fencing team placed among the Top 4 in the nation for thefifth-consecutive year as Ohio State took third at the NCAAnational championships last weekend in Houston. Competing with ninequalifiers, the Buckeyes ended the four-day competition with 155points to finish behind national champion Harvard (165 points) andrunner-up Penn State (155 points), both of which had 12 fencers,and three points ahead of defending national champion Notre Dame,which also had 12. The No. 1-ranked OSU men collected 110 points,by far the most of any program on the men’s side, and saw seniorAdam Crompton win sabre and junior Boaz Ellis win foil as bothfencers became the first three-time national champions in OhioState history. The pistol team finished third at the NationalCollegiate Championships last weekend. Army won the championshipwith a 6,358. Navy finished second at 6,299 with OSU at 6,282.Teresa Meyer won the women’s air pistol title at the competitionThursday at Ft. Benning, Ga. At the 2006 NCAA Women’s Swimming andDiving Championships, Gulsah Gunenc became the first Ohio Statewomen’s swimming All-American since 1995. She broke her own OhioState record during preliminaries of the event, hitting the wall in1:57.78. She finished seventh-place. Gunenc also competed in the100-yard butterfly. Griet Buelens joined Gunenc in the 200-yardbutterfly, finishing 24th. Buelens and Nicole Maglich also competedin the 200- and 500-yard freestyle events. Ohio State finished thechampionships in 32nd-place, notching 12 points. The men’sbasketball team ended its successful 2005-06 campaign in the secondround of the 2006 NCAA Tournament Sunday in Dayton, Ohio. TheBuckeyes finished with a 26-6 record, which included a 12-4 mark inBig Ten Conference play. Seniors Terence Dials, Matt Sylvester,J.J. Sullinger and Je’Kel Foster led the Buckeyes to the 2006 BigTen Conference Championship and to the title game of the annualleague tournament. Dials finished his career ranked No. 12 incareer scoring, No. 5 in career rebounds and No. 2 in career gamesplayed as a Buckeye (132). Foster finished No. 2 in career 3-pointshooting percentage (.412) and rates second in single-season stealswith 72 in 2005-06. Sullinger scored more than 900 points as aBuckeye and Sylvester reached 700 career points in 113 appearancesin an OSU uniform. Head coach Thad Matta is one of just two OhioState coaches to record 20 or more wins in his first two seasons inColumbus (Gary Williams is the other). Matta’s average record as ahead coach in six seasons is 25-8. He is 46-18 in two seasons atOhio State. The women’s basketball team made its 15th overallappearance in the NCAA tournament this week in West Lafayette, Ind.The No. 1-seeded Buckeyes opened up NCAA play with a 68-45 victoryover Oakland Sunday. Debbie Merrill scored 23 points and JessicaDavenport recorded her 31st career double-double with 19 points and18 rebounds. The victory over Oakland set up a rematch with No.8-seeded Boston College in the second round. After defeated BC,66-61, in overtime earlier this season, the Buckeyes fell, 79-69,to the Golden Eagles Tuesday. The loss eliminated Ohio State frompostseason play, ending the 2995-06 campaign with a 29-3 record.The 29 wins ranks second all-time at Ohio State, falling justbehind the 30 wins posted by the Buckeyes last season.
Ashley Allen, Tia Battle, Candace Dark, Merrill and Kim Wilburn all ended their Ohio State careers Tuesday. The five seniors helped lead the Buckeyes to four consecutive appearances in the NCAA tournament.
Wednesday, head coach Jim Foster was named a finalist for the 2006 James Naismith Women’s Basketball Coach of the Year Award. Foster has led the Buckeyes to a 59-8 (.881) record the last two seasons and back-to-back Big Ten regular-season titles.
Buckeye wrestler Kirk Nail earned his first All-America honorafter finishing eighth at the 2006 NCAA Wrestling Championships.Nail upset three seeded wrestlers, including 11th-seed SpencerNadolsky of North Carolina (4-2). Nail’s win over Nadolskysolidified him as an All-American, as he was guaranteed to finishin the Top 8 of the bracket. The men’s swimming and diving teamwill send four competitors to the 2006 NCAA Men’s Swimming andDiving Championships in Atlanta, Ga., March 23-25. Joe Doyle, NateKing, R.J. Lemyre and Kellen Harkness will each represent theBuckeyes. Doyle and King will each compete in three swimmingevents, while Lemyre will compete in two. Harkness is the only OhioState diver to compete at the meet. Synchronized Swimming (21-0)will seek its fifth national championship title in seven years whenit travels to Stanford, Calif., for the U.S. Collegiate NationalChampionships at the Avery Aquatic Center. Overall, OSU hascaptured 24 national titles since the championships’ inception in1977.
Prior to the Buckeyes’ recent title run between 2000-2004, Ohio State held a streak of 13 consecutive national championship crowns won between 1985-1997.
Distance runners on the track and field team will compete atthe 2006 Stanford Invitational Friday and Saturday in Palo Alto,Calif. Other members of the team are training in Florida on thesquad’s spring trip. The softball team travels to Los Angeles onspring break this week for double-headers at Loyola Marymount, LongBeach State and Cal State Fullerton. The Buckeyes have won six oftheir last eight games to improve to 12-10 on the season and arecoming off a 3-0 performance and championship of the BuckeyeInvitational last weekend in Columbus. Junior Megan Schwab’s .358average is tops among the active players, while junior Jamee Juarez(7-5, 3.04 ERA) and freshman Kim Reeder (5-5, 2.33 ERA) havestarted Ohio State’s 22 games in the circle. The women’s gymnasticsteam travels to East Lansing this weekend for the Big TenChampionships hosted by Michigan State. The Buckeyes enter thecompetition with a 192.647 average, which ranks sixth in the BigTen and sixth in the Central Region. A good performance will helpOhio State qualify for the NCAA Central Region championships April8 at LSU. Senior Brittany Brown is OSU’s highest-ranked competitoramong Big Ten performers, ranking third on floor. Kaylin Schlechtranks fourth on bars and Maalika Moore-Thomas ranks No. 12 onvault, No. 6 on beam and No. 9 in the all-around. The No. 3-rankedmen’s gymnastics team travels to Iowa City, Iowa, to defend its2005 conference title at the Big Ten Championships. In GymInfoNational Rankings, the Buckeye squad leads the country on vaultposting a team average of 36.933. In addition, Ohio State ranks inthe Top 10 on all apparatuses. The Buckeyes note seven individualTop 10 marks in the national rankings. On floor, Eddie Hay holdsthe fifth spot averaging a 9.367 and teammate Jimmy Wickham trailsbehind in ninth with a 9.217 average. DJ Bucher is the lone Buckeyeto place on pommel horse. Bucher’s average on the apparatus is8.783 to clinch the 10th spot. Wickham tops the nation on vaultwith a 9.517. On parallel bars, Nicholaus Searcy’s average of 9.150lands him sixth in the nation on the apparatus. The final twoBuckeyes Willie Ito and David Ortiz earn Top 10 rankings on highbar. Ito is second in the country with a season average of 9.550and Ortiz is eighth posting a 9.283 average. The men’s lacrosseteam came back to defeat Quinnipiac, 9-8, last Saturday in Hamden,Conn. Senior Andrew Bender scored twice and added an assist in thefourth quarter to lead the Buckeyes back from two goals down, whilefreshman goalie John Bolen made 11 saves in his first start in theScarlet and Gray. The Buckeyes open a two-game homestand with agame vs. Brown at 7 p.m. Saturday in Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.Women’s lacrosse (0-5) lost, 17-4, at Virginia Tech last Saturday.Jessica Patane, KC Carter, Kelly Kremer and Lindsay Weiner eachscored a goal against the Hokies. For Carter, it was her fifthconsecutive game with at least one goal. The Buckeyes now head tothe University of Maryland to play in the ACC/ALC Challenge. OhioState played eighth-ranked North Carolina Friday at 5 p.m. and thenfaces seventh-ranked Maryland Sunday at 3:30 p.m. 11th-ranked Men’svolleyball (15-6 overall, 3-2 Midwestern Intercollegiate VolleyballAssociation) lost two matches last weekend at the Active AnkleClassic at Long Beach State. Ohio State lost 3-1 (27-30, 30-24,30-21, 32-30) to second-ranked Brigham Young Friday. John Albertsonscored a team-high 13 kills and a match-high eight blocks againstthe Cougars. Saturday, the Buckeyes lost 3-0 (30-16, 30-26, 30-27)to fifth-ranked Long Beach State. Sam Stevens had a team-high 10kills while Albertson adding seven kills and six blocks. For hisplay in the Classic, Albertson was named to the Active AnkleClassic All-Tournament Team. The No. 66 women’s tennis team (8-5;0-0 Big Ten) split a pair of weekend matches. Ohio State defeatedNo. 71 Washington State, 4-2, then dropped its match with No. 42Nebraska, 4-0, in the Newport Beach Tournament held March 19 at theBalboa Bay Tennis Club in Newport Beach, Calif. The Buckeyes willbe back in action Saturday and Sunday when they open Big Ten playagainst Minnesota and Iowa, respectively. The matches will be heldat 11 a.m. at the Jesse Owens West Recreation Center in Columbus.The baseball Buckeyes broke open what had been a pitchers’ duelwith four runs in the sixth inning and added two more in theseventh to get past Cornell 6-0 Tuesday at IMG Academy. It was thesecond shutout for Ohio State during the first four games of thespring break trip. The Buckeyes (9-5) will take Wednesday offbefore returning for a two-game set vs. Vermont Thursday andFriday. The first pitch Thursday will be tossed at 3 p.m., whilethe first pitch Friday will be at 1 p.m.
Junior Dan DeLucia and freshman Jake Hale were named to the National Baseball Foundation National Players of the Week Honor Roll after outstanding performances over the weekend. Sunday, Delucia allowed only three hits in a nine-inning complete-game shutout, 14-0, against UMass. The junior did not allow the first hit until the fifth inning and threw 106 pitchers to pick up his second win of the season. Monday, Hale picked up his first win, allowing only two runs on three hits, with five strikeouts, as he combined with two relievers to limit Cornell to only four hits in a 12-4 victory.
The men’s tennis team moved to No. 7 nationally in the latestFILA Intercollegiate Tennis Association Poll released Tuesday. TheNo. 7 ranking is the highest reached by the Buckeyes in schoolhistory. The previous high was No. 9, a spot the Buckeyes attainedin the March 7 rankings this year. Ohio State is 12-1 on the seasonafter a 7-0 victory Monday vs. Coastal Carolina in Myrtle Beach,S.C. The Buckeyes own wins vs. six Top 50 teams this year. The loneloss was a 5-2 setback at No. 15 Notre Dame. Wins this year havecome against No. 17 VCU, No. 19 LSU, No. 20 Kentucky, No. 24Florida State, No. 33 Tennessee and No. 44 Oklahoma. The Buckeyesalso own a victory vs. No. 56 Virginia Tech. Ohio State is led bythe No. 2 doubles team in the nation. Seniors Ross Wilson (NorthCanton, Ohio/Hoover) and Scott Green (Toledo, Ohio/Toledo St.Francis de Sales) have a record of 17-2 on the year, with an 11-1dual match record. The Buckeyes have two ranked singles players inthe Top 80. Bryan Koniecko (Fr. Long Island, N.Y./Syosset) is No.75 nationally. Devin Mullings (Jr. Freeport, Bahamas/Ft. LauderdalePrepatory) is ranked No 76. Mullings has a record of 15-8 whileKoniecko is 13-9 in his rookie season. Ohio State opens Big Tenplay against Iowa at 2:30 p.m. Friday in Iowa City, Iowa, at theWest Tennis and Recreation Center. The Buckeyes then travel toMinneapolis to face Minnesota at 1 p.m. Sunday at the BaselineTennis Center. OSU returns home for a noon match April 1 vs. thePurdue Boilermakers. Ohio State’s Big Ten home opener will be heldat the Jesse Owens West Recreation Center. OSU currently is ridinga 36-match home win streak that dates back to the 2003 season.
Ohio State Athletics Schedule
Wednesday, March 22 – Wednesday, March 29
Wednesday, March 22
Softball at Loyola Marymount, 1 and 3:30 p.m.
Los Angeles, Calif.
Men’s Volleyball at Penn State, 7 p.m.
University Park, Pa.
Thursday, March 23
Baseball vs. Vermont, 3 p.m.
Bradenton, Fla.
Synchronized Swimming at U.S. Collegiate National Championships
Stanford, Calif.
Men’s Swimming and Diving at NCAA Championships
Atlanta, Ga.
Friday, March 24
Baseball vs. Vermont, 1 p.m.
Bradenton, Fla.
Softball at Long Beach State, 1 and 3 p.m.
Long Beach, Calif.
Men’s Tennis at Iowa, 2:30 p.m.
Iowa City, Iowa
Women’s Lacrosse vs. North Carolina, 5 p.m.
College Park, Md.
Synchronized Swimming at U.S. Collegiate National Championships
Stanford, Calif.
Men’s Swimming and Diving at NCAA Championships
Atlanta, Ga.
Men’s Gymnastics at Big Ten Championships
Iowa City, Iowa
Women’s Golf at Liz Murphey Invitational
Athens, Ga.
Saturday, March 25
Women’s Tennis vs. Minnesota, 11 a.m.
Jesse Owens West Recreation Center, Columbus, Ohio
Softball at Cal State Fullerton, Noon and 2 p.m.
Fullerton, Calif.
Women’s Gymnastics at Big Ten Championships, 6 p.m.
East Lansing, Mich.
Men’s Volleyball vs. Lewis, 7 p.m.
St. John Arena, Columbus, Ohio
Men’s Lacrosse vs. Brown, 7 p.m.
Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium, Columbus, Ohio
Track and Field at Stanford Invitational
Palo Alto, Calif.
Track and Field at Arizona State Invitational
Tempe, Ariz.
Rowing at Wyndamere Classic
Redwood Shores, Calif.
Synchronized Swimming at U.S. Collegiate National Championships
Stanford, Calif.
Women’s Golf at Liz Murphey Invitational
Athens, Ga.
Men’s Swimming and Diving at NCAA Championships
Atlanta, Ga.
Men’s Gymnastics at Big Ten Championships
Iowa City, Iowa
Sunday, March 26
Women’s Tennis vs. Iowa, 11 a.m.
Jesse Owens West Recreation Center, Columbus, Ohio
Men’s Tennis at Minnesota, 12 p.m.
Minneapolis, Minn.
Women’s Lacrosse at Maryland, 2 p.m.
College Park, Md.
Track and Field at Stanford Invitational
Palo Alto, Calif.
Rowing at Wyndamere Classic
Redwood Shores, Calif.
Women’s Golf at Liz Murphey Invitational
Athens, Ga.
Track and Field at Arizona State Invitational
Tempe, Ariz.
Wednesday, March 29
Baseball vs. Toledo, 2 p.m.
Bill Davis Stadium, Columbus, Ohio
