Athletics Good Stuff – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/14/2007 12:00:00 AM | General
March 14, 2007
Athletes of the Week
Left-handed pitcher Cory Luebke was named the Big Ten BaseballPitcher of the Week Tuesday after throwing a three-hit, nine-inningcomplete game in a 10-1 win against Western Michigan last Saturday.Luebke struck out four batters in recording his 11th careercomplete game in the victory over the Broncos at the Kennel ClubClassic in Jacksonville, Fla. It is the second player of the weekaward of his career, with the other coming March 7, 2006, also atthe Kennel Club Classic in Jacksonville, Fla. The performance forthe junior from Maria Stein, Ohio (Marion Local) improved hisrecord to 2-0 on the year and lowered his season ERA to 1.17. Hestruck out 11 in a 7-2 win over Lehigh March 4. Jenna Harris andVeronica Jatsek each earned All-America honors at the 2007 NCAAIndoor Women’s Track and Field Championships Saturday. Harris, whoset the Buckeye record in the 400-meter dash Friday at 52.74,finished eighth in the final Saturday in a time of 53.31. In thefield events, Jastek placed seventh in the weight throw to earn herfirst All-America honor Saturday at a distance of 66 feet, 9 3/4inches.
Athletics Good Stuff
Men’s basketball, the outright 2007 Big Ten regular season andtournament champions, enter NCAA tournament play with a 30-3overall record after a 15-1 regular season mark in Big TenConference play. Thad Matta, the league’s coach-of-the-year, willlead the Buckeyes against First Round opponent Central ConnecticutState (22-11). Ohio State is the No. 1 seed in the South Region.CCSU is the No. 16 seed. The winner of the game between theBuckeyes and Blue Devils will take on the winner of the gamebetween Brigham Young, the No. 8 seed, and Xavier, the No. 9 seed.The Ohio State opener tips at 7:10 p.m. Thursday. BYU and Xaviertip 30 minutes after the conclusion of the Ohio State game. Thewinners meet at 1:10 p.m. Saturday with a chance to advance toregional competition in San Antonio, Texas, March 22 and 24.
The Buckeyes are making their 20th appearance in the NCAA tournament. Overall, Ohio State has a 32-18 record all-time in NCAA tournament play.
The United States Basketball Writers Association selected Greg Oden to the USBWA All-America second team March 12.
The women’s basketball team (28-3) received an at-large bid tothe 2007 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament Monday. The Buckeyesare seeded fourth in the Dayton region and will face No. 13 Marist(27-5), champions of the Metro-Atlantic Athletic Conference, atapproximately 10 p.m. EDT in Stanford, Calif. Ohio State, which wonits third-consecutive Big Ten regular-season title, makes itsfifth-straight and 16th overall appearance in the NCAA tournament.The Buckeyes gained a No. 1 seed in the 2006 tournament, which tiedthe 1993 team for the highest in program history. Ohio State is18-15 all-time in 15 NCAA tournament appearances. No. 5 seed MiddleTennessee State (29-3), out of the Sun Belt Conference, and No. 12Gonzaga (24-9), from the West Coast Conference, also play at 5 p.m.at Stanford’s Maples Pavilion and will meet the winner of theBuckeyes and Red Foxes game March 20. Men’s volleyball (16-1, 5-0MIVA) won its ninth straight match defeating 15th-ranked BallState, 3-1 Friday night. Robbie Klein, named the MIVAShondell/Dunlap Division Player of the Week, had 19.5 points, LayneDreven 17.5, Brett Versen 16.5, Sam Stevens 15.5 and John Albertson15.0 in the win. Setter Daniel Mathews handed out 51 assists in thematch. OSU holds first place in the MIVA with Ball State andLoyola-Chicago tied for second with 4-2 records. The Buckeyesreturn to action, Friday, March 23 to host 11th-rankedLoyola-Chicago Two members of the men’s track and field teamcompeted in first-day action at the 2007 NCAA Indoor ChampionshipsFriday. Junior Tony Cole and sophomore Jeff See, both Big Tenchampions in 2007, failed to advance past the preliminary rounds oftheir respective events Friday. Cole, the Big Ten champ in the200-meter dash, clipped a 6.78 to take 15th in the 60m qualifyinground. See, the Big Ten’s top miler, missed the national final inthe same event after posting a time of 4:12.49. The No. 2 men’stennis team beat No. 67 Miami (4-6) by a score of 5-2 Saturday atthe Neil Schiff Tennis Center in Miami, Fla. The victory for theBuckeyes (13-1) was their third in a row and improved their seriesmark against the Hurricanes to 3-13. Ohio State has outscoredopponents 74-14 this season. Opposing teams have managed to takeonly 41 of 195 singles sets from the Buckeyes. The Buckeyes headwest to take on the defending NCAA champion and 24th-rankedPepperdine Waves March 20 in Malibu, Calif. Ohio State then returnshome and resumes conference play March 24 against Iowa.
Devin Mullings, of the No. 2 Ohio State men’s tennis team, won his match at No. 3 singles against Josh Cohen 6-4, 6-1. Mullings also won his match at No. 2 doubles against Vallverdu/Subramanian 8-6. Mullings wins helped OSU beat No. 67 Miami in Miami, Fla. Ohio State improved to 13-1 on the year. The Buckeyes travel to No. 24 Pepperdine March 20.
After a break for finals, the women’s tennis team returns toaction next week with two matches March 19 in Fort Myers, Fla. TheBuckeyes will take on Wichita State in a neutral-site match at 10a.m., followed by a match with Florida Gulf Coast at 3 p.m. TheBuckeyes are 9-4 on the year and are on a four-match winningstreak. Six members of the wrestling team will seek All-Americastatus when they compete in the 2007 NCAA ChampionshipsThursday-Saturday at The Palace of Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills,Mich.
It is the third NCAA championship for junior J.D. Bergman (197), while it is the second for senior Chris Vondruska (165) and junior T.J. Enright (133). J Jaggers (141), who earned a bid to nationals last year, but did not compete because of injury, will compete in his second-consecutive national event. A pair of freshmen in Lance Palmer (149) and Mike Pucillo (184) will make their debut on the national stage.
The six-wrestler contingent is the most for Ohio State since 2002-03.
Twelve members of the No. 13 men’s swimming and diving teamwill travel to Minneapolis, Minn., Thursday through Saturday, forthe 2007 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships. Nine swimmers andthree divers qualified to compete at the championship meet. OnlyMinnesota and Michigan qualified more swimmers in the Big Tenconference. In addition, the Big Ten conference qualified 63swimmers for the championships to total more athletes than anyother conference. The Buckeyes will swim a combined 15 races, aswell as all three diving events.
Seniors Joe Doyle, Nate King and R.J. Lemyre will lead the swimming division, while Kellen Harkness will lead the divers. Doyle, King and Lemyre have each qualified on one previous occasion, while this will be Harkness’ fourth trip to the championships.
Qualifying for the first time, junior Matt Voelker will swim aside Doyle in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle in addition to the 200-yard distance. George Markovic will represent the Buckeyes in the distance events, competing in the 500- and 1,650-yard freestyle races.
Felipe Travesso, Jake Busch and Matthias Sigrist each qualified for one event. Travesso will be the sole Ohio State swimmer in the breaststroke division, swimming the 100-yard distance. Busch and Sigrist are set to race the 500-yard freestyle. Joel Elber will travel to Minnesota to participate on the 200-yard freestyle relay.
In the diving portion of the meet, Harkness, Burkley Showe and Wes Weiser will contend for a shot at the championship title on both the 1- and 3-meter boards. Weiser will add the 10-meter to his list of events.
Men’s hockey senior Sean Collins picked up a number of leaguehonors last week. The defenseman was named to the All-CCHA SecondTeam and was named a finalist for CCHA Best Offensive Defensemanand CCHA Best Defensive Defenseman honors. The Troy, Mich., nativeled the Buckeyes in scoring with a career-best 28 points thisseason.
Freshman goalie Joseph Palmer was named an honorable mention CCHA All-Rookie Team selection after starting 33 games for the squad, posting a 2.96 goals-against average. Senior Mathieu Beaudoin, a finance major who will earn his degree at the end of Winter Quarter, was named Ohio State’s winner of the CCHA Scholar-Athlete award for the second-consecutive season.
The men’s lacrosse team (4-2, 0-0 GWLL) defeated Penn State,10-8, last Saturday in State College, Pa. The Buckeyes were led bysenior Jason Lutz, who had a team-best three goals, and juniorKevin Buchanan, who had a team-high four points, including twogoals. The team returns to action next Monday with a game at Towsonat 7 p.m. Women’s lacrosse (2-1, 0-1 American Lacrosse Conference)split a pair of home games last week, defeating Duquesne, 13-8, andfalling to 11th-ranked Johns Hopkins, 15-14. Against Duquesne,Kelly Haggerty and Jessica Patane scored four goals each in thegame while Kristen Gilwee had the win in goal. Kristen Slahor addeda goal and a game-high four assists. In the Johns Hopkins game, OSUtrailed by four goals (12-8) only to rally to tie the game at 14with 49 seconds left. JHU won the game on an eight meter shot with12 seconds left. OSU had an eight meter attempt with .9 secondsleft, but did not score. Haggerty had four goals for OSU withSlahor and Keri Yourick adding three each. Slahor added fourassists for a game high seven points. Men’s gymnastics (6-4overall; 1-1 Big Ten) fell to No. 7 California, 213.0-212.3Saturday at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley, Calif. Senior Willie Ito andjunior Jimmy Wickham claimed two event wins each to lead theBuckeye effort. Ito won on parallel bars with a career-high 9.75and finished first on high bar with a 9.45. Wickham won on floorand vault with a 9.5 and 9.2, respectively. The No. 20 women’sgymnastics team had the weekend off but will return to action thisweekend in Washington, D.C., at George Washington. The baseballteam has won five straight games to improve to 6-3 on the year.Last weekend at the Kennel Club Classic in Jacksonville, Ohio Statewon all three games, beating North Florida (3-2 in 11 innings),Western Michigan (10-1) and Connecticut (2-1). Matt Angle led theteam with a .538 batting average in Jacksonville, sparked by a5-for-6 effort against North Florida. The Ohio State pitching staffallowed just four runs (two earned) in the three games and the fivepitchers used in the series managed an 0.62 ERA. Cory Luebkepitched a three-hit complete game to beat the Broncos. The othertwo wins went to Rory Meister. Jake Hale picked up his second andthird saves of the season. Opponents batted just .160 againstBuckeye pitching. Ohio State will play seven games in seven days onits spring trip, beginning Saturday vs. Bucknell at 7 p.m. For acomplete spring break schedule, please visit ohiostatebuckeyes.com.The softball team went 5-3 at the USF Adidas Invitational inClearwater, Fla., last weekend that included a 4-0 win over No. 26Virginia Tech. The Buckeyes advanced to the championship game ofthe Silver Flight and are now 12-10 overall. During the tournament,freshman Sam Marder batted .455 with two home runs and 10 RBI,while sophomore pitcher Kim Reeder went 3-1 with a 1.28 ERA. Thisweekend, Ohio State hosts the Buckeye Invitational Saturday andSunday, welcoming Oakland and Binghamton to Buckeye Field for thesix-game event. The fencing team competed at the NCAA MidwestRegional Qualifier in South Bend, Ind., Saturday, qualifying 11fencers out of a possible maximum of 12 for the 2007 NCAAChampionships March 22-25 in Madison, N.J. Six members of thesecond-ranked men’s team and five members of the sixth-rankedwomen’s squad will compete at the national championships. TheBuckeyes, who could qualify one more fencer through an at-largebid, finished third in the nation last year despite only qualifyingnine fencers. Sophomore Andras Horanyi won men’s foil and juniorSiobhan Byrne won women’s sabre. Pistol will begin competition atthe 2007 NRA Intercollegiate Pistol Championships, hosted by theUnited States Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., March 15-17.The men’s golf team will travel to Statesboro, Ga., this week tocompete in the E-Z Go Chris Schenkel Invitational. The event willbe played at the par 72 6,962-yard Forest Heights Country Club.Georgia Southern University will be the host school for thetournament.
Ohio State Athletics Schedule
March 14 – March 21
March 14
Pistol at National Championships, TBA
West Point, N.Y.
March 15
Wrestling at NCAA Championships, All Day
Detroit, Mich.
Men’s Swimming at NCAA Championships, All Day
Minneapolis, Minn.
Pistol at National Championships, TBA
West Point, N.Y.
March 16
Wrestling at NCAA, All Day
Detroit, Mich.
Men’s Swimming at NCAA, All Day
Minneapolis, Minn.
March 17 Baseball vs. Bucknell, 7 p.m.
Bradenton, Fla.
Softball vs. Binghamton, Noon
Columbus, Ohio
Buckeye Field
Softball vs. Oakland, 2:15 p.m.
Columbus, Ohio
Men’s Gymnastics vs. Michigan, 5 p.m.
Columbus, Ohio
St. John Arena
Wrestling at NCAA, All Day
Detroit, Mich.
Men’s Swimming at NCAA, All Day
Minneapolis, Minn.
Men’s Golf at E-Z Go Chris Schenkel Invitational, All Day
Statesboro, Ga.
March 18
Baseball vs. Jacksonville State, Noon
Bradenton, Fla.
Baseball vs. Dartmouth, 5 p.m.
Bradenton, Fla.
Softball vs. Binghamton, 2:15 p.m.
Columbus, Ohio
Buckeye Field
Women’s Lacrosse at Davidson, 1 p.m.
Davidson, N.C.
Women’s Gymnastics at George Washington, 2 p.m.
Washington, D.C.
Men’s Golf at E-Z Go Chris Schenkel Invitational, All Day
Statesboro, Ga.
March 19
Women’s Tennis vs. Wichita State, 10 a.m.
Ft. Myers, Fla.
Women’s Tennis at Florida Gulf Coast, 3 p.m.
Ft. Myers, Fla.
March 20
Men’s Tennis at Pepperdine, 1 p.m.
Malibu, Calif.
Men’s Lacrosse at Towson, 7 p.m.
Towson, Md.
Women’s Golf at Dr. Donnis Thompson Invitational, All Day
Honolulu, Hawaii
March 21
Women’s Lacrosse at Notre Dame, 4 p.m.
South Bend, Ind.
Women’s Golf at Dr. Donnis Thompson Invitational, All Day
Honolulu, Hawaii
Synchronized Swimming at U.S. Nationals, All Day
Norton, Mass.
Women’s Track at Auburn Invite, All Day
Auburn, Ala.
