Conference Rivals No. 3 Men’s Gymnastics and No. 1 Michigan Meet at St. John Arena – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/14/2007 12:00:00 AM | General, Men's Gymnastics
March 14, 2007
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Columbus, Ohio – Two of the nation’s top-ranked men’s gymnastics teams will meet in Columbus, Ohio, as No. 3 Ohio State (6-4 overall; 1-1 Big Ten) welcomes the No. 1 Michigan Wolverines to St. John Arena at 5 p.m. Saturday. At the dual, the Buckeyes will honor Willie Ito, Kristopher Kline, Grant Osborne and Nicholaus Searcy for senior night, as well as, undergraduate student assistant coach Deron McIntyre and manager Jill Corbett. The Big Ten Conference challenge between two of the country’s elite gymnastics program also marks the close of the 2007 regular season.
Subscribers can watch live video of the No. 3 Ohio State vs. No. 1 Michigan via the internet on CSTV’s All-Access. For more information please visit, http://all-access.cstv.com. “Facing the No. 1 team in the country will be a good test before the Big Ten Championships,” Miles Avery, Ohio State head coach, said. “We would like to end the season with a win.” In 2007 league action, OSU grabbed a win on the road against Illinois (Jan. 27), 214.7-211.05, and fell to No. 2 Penn State (Feb. 24), 218.15-215.6, in State College, Pa. Last week, Avery’s squad joined Michigan and Penn State at the top of the nation’s rankings with the third highest three-score team average. The Wolverines have held the No. 1 spot and the Nittany Lions the No. 2 position all season.
SENIORS TAKE A BOW
The Buckeyes will recognize their seniors Saturday before the dual. Ohio State gymnastics will graduate four letterwinners at the conclusion of the 2007 including Willie Ito, Kristopher Kline, Grant Osborne and Nicholaus Searcy. As a class, the four led the Scarlet and Gray to back-to-back conference titles in 2005 and ’06. Ito, a 2006 All-American on high bar, leaves Ohio State as the OSU pommel horse record holder with a 9.9 and a three-time OSU Scholar-Athlete. The Huntington Beach, Calif., native was named Big Ten Gymnast of the Week three times in his career and has tabbed 27 first-place finishes. In national rankings, Ito holds the second highest average on high bar (9.55), is fifth on parallel bars (9.517) and sixth on pommel horse (9.1). Kline was voted co-captain by his teammates for the 2007 season and has been a consistent competitor for the Buckeyes the past four years. This season, the Westerville, Ohio, native has already bested his career highs on floor (9.45), rings (9.4) and in the all-around (49.95). Kline also owns first-team All-America Scholar-Athlete accolades by the College Gymnastics Association, Academic All-Big Ten laurels and OSU Scholar-Athlete honors.
Osborne owns five career first-place finishes as a Buckeye and is a four-time OSU Scholar-Athlete. The Fort Collins, Colo., native has been consistent in his final season on pommel horse and ranks eighth in the country with a three-score average of 9.083. Osborne also has anchored the Scarlet and Gray on floor, parallel bars and high bar. Co-captain Searcy was recognized in 2006 as the Big Ten Sportsman of the Year for Ohio State. A mainstay in OSU’s lineup, Searcy owns three first-place finishes in his career and noted a career-high 9.65 on parallel bars in the win over Illinois Jan. 27. In addition, the Dublin, Ohio, native is ranked fourth in the nation on the event with a 9.533 average.
NO FUN IN THE SUN
Ohio State fell to the No. 7 Cal Bears March 10 at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley, Calif. The Buckeyes dropped a close decision to California, 213.0-212.3 after facing three Top 10 teams on the road in as many weeks. Jimmy Wickham and Willie Ito each claimed two event wins against the Golden Bears. Wickham tabbed his third-consecutive win on floor with a 9.5 and went on to win vault with a 9.1. Ito won parallel bars with a career-high 9.75 and high bar with 9.45. In addition, the senior led the Buckeyes on pommel horse with a second-place 9.2.
BIG TEN SQUADS SWEEP THE NATION
Big Ten Conference men’s gymnastics squads remain atop the national rankings for the second-consecutive week. The league sweeps the Top 3 spots in the nation as the third-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes (216.867) join Big Ten Conference rivals Michigan and Penn State. In the GymInfo rankings, Michigan owns the top three-score average with a 218.717 and No. 2 Penn State trails by less than one point with a 218.033 average. Stanford jumps above Oklahoma for the first time this season to hold fourth, narrowly behind the Buckeyes, with a 216.733, while, Oklahoma owns a 216.667 team average.
Ohio State ranks in the nation’s Top 5 in every event but vault. The team remains solid on rings and parallel bars with a second-place average on both apparatuses. On rings, the Scarlet and Gray own a 37.767 average. The Nittany Lions hold a slight edge in first with a 37.867 and the Wolverines round out the Top 3 on rings with a 37.633. In addition, Avery’s squad holds second place on parallel bars with a 36.967, only .05 points behind Michigan. OSU has been stellar on parallel bars securing event wins on the apparatus at every meet this season. Junior DJ Bucher has won the event for Ohio State three times, Willie Ito has won twice and Nicholaus Searcy has won once.
The Big Ten trio holds the Top 3 spots on pommel horse as well. Ohio State holds the third-highest three-score average with a 35.467 while PSU ranks first (36.233) and UM sits in second (35.617). With the help of Jimmy Wickham’s event wins on floor the past three weekends, the team moves into the third spot in the national rankings with a 37.283. On high bar, the Buckeyes round out the nation’s Top 5 with a 36.05 average. The squad’s lowest ranking is sixth on vault with a 35.117 but competition remains close on the event as OSU’s vault average is only .75 points less than Oklahoma’s 35.867 first-place average.
FIVE BUCKEYES IN THE TOP 5
Individually, five Ohio State gymnasts own top averages on five events. On parallel bars, DJ Bucher, senior co-captain Nicholaus Searcy and senior Willie Ito own the Nos. 3, 4 and 5 spots, respectively. Bucher’s three-score average of 9.55 is only .117 less than Andrew Elkind of Michigan and Tim McNeil of California’s first-place 9.667 average. Searcy and Ito barely trail their teammate with a 9.533 and 9.517, respectively. Ito also owns the second-highest average on high bar with a 9.55 and also ranks sixth on pommel horse (9.1). For the Buckeyes on rings, freshman Tai Lee leads the squad with a 9.617 in fourth and Bucher follows closely behind with a fifth-place 9.6. Junior Jimmy Wickham is the sole OSU gymnast to crack the Top 5 rankings on both floor and vault. On floor, Wickham holds fourth with a 9.583 and is tied for fifth on vault (9.1) with Cole Storer of Minnesota.
CONFERENCE RANKINGS ROUNDUP
League standings continue to find the Buckeyes ranked third among their conference challengers. Michigan leads the conference and Penn State follows closely behind in second. In the bottom half of the rankings are No. 4 Minnesota (214.0), No. 5 Illinois (213.65) and No. 6 Iowa (207.517).
OHIO STATE VS. MICHIGAN
The Buckeyes lead the all-time dual series record 39-33. Last season, OSU ended the season undefeated in Big Ten action with a win in Ann Arbor, Mich., 214.3-212.7. Then-freshmen Eddie Hay and Jake Bateman led the squad on floor with a 9.3 and 9.25, respectively, for second and third-place finishes. Bateman added a first-place finish on rings with a 9.4. DJ Bucher won pommel horse with a 9.2 as Ohio State won the event, 33.6-33.1. The Buckeyes would go on to win vault, parallel bars and high bar. Jimmy Wickham boosted the team on vault with a 9.55 for first and Michael Marino tabbed his first career event win with a 9.05 on parallel bars. David Ortiz was the top scorer for the Buckeyes on high bar with a second-place 9.5.
SCOUTING THE WOLVERINES
Michigan outscored then No. 6-ranked Illinois, 216.35-212.5, at home in Cliff Keen Arena March 10 and enters into the match-up vs. Ohio State with a 5-0 dual record. Leading the Maize and Blue this season are fifth-year senior Justin Laury and junior Andrew Elkind. Laury returned this season after red-shirting last year because of injury to boost Michigan on rings and high bar. In his final season, Laury earned a season-high 9.4 on rings at the Pacific Coast Classic (Feb. 24) and took first on high bar with a 9.45 vs. Oklahoma (Jan. 27). Elkind also has excelled on rings for the Wolverines as he tied Laury at the Pacific Coast Classic with a 9.4 and is tied with California’s Tim McNeill for the nation’s top three-score average on parallel bars with a of 9.667.
UP NEXT FOR OHIO STATE
The 2007 Big Ten Championships will be held at the Sports Pavilion in Minneapolis, Minn., March 30-31. The defending two-time Big Ten champion Buckeyes look to win a third title in as many years but will face tough competition from No. 1 Michigan and No. 2 Penn State.
