Athletics Good Stuff – Ohio State Buckeyes
4/17/2007 12:00:00 AM | General
April 17, 2007
Athletes of the Week
Pejman Ebrahimi of the men’s gymnastics team won his firstcareer national vault title Saturday at the 2007 NCAA IndividualEvent Championships in University Park, Pa. The junior tiedStanford’s David Sender after completing a handspring double-frontvault to earn a season-high 9.3. This marked the junior’s firstNCAA event championship win and only the second event title win fora Buckeye in five years. Kaylan Clevinger (KAY-lin CLEV-in-ger)scored a 9.90 on bars, which qualified for the NCAA Championshipsheld on April 28 in Salt Lake City. She will be the firstrepresentative from Ohio State to qualify for nationals since 1999.In March the junior was named first-team All-Big Ten at theconference championships. Heading into the regional qualifier,Clevinger led the Buckeyes on bars with a 9.840 average, whichranked seventh in the Big Ten and 11th in the Central Region. Her39.075 average in the all-around is second on the team afterclassmate Maalika Moore-Thomas, which ranks fifth in the conferenceand 10th in the region. Clevinger ranks third on the team on beam(9.765 average) and floor (9.805 average). Senior Devin Mullingswon both of his singles and doubles matches. Mullings beat Purdue’sBranko Kuzmanovic 6-0, 6-1 at the top singles spot. He then teamedup with fellow senior Chris Klingemann to beat Kuzmanovic and PaulRose 8-2 at the top doubles spot. Mullings beat Illinois’ No. 5Kevin Anderson 6-3, 7-5 at the top singles spot and again teamed upwith Klingemann to defeat the defending NCAA national championdoubles pair of Anderson and Ryan Rowe, 8-5. Mullings completed hisfour years at Ohio State having never lost a dual match at home.
Athletics Good Stuff
Tickets for the Spring Game set for 1 p.m. April 21 currentlyare on sale at the Athletics Ticket Office in the JeromeSchottenstein Center and can be purchased either in person oron-line at www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com or by phone at 1-800-GO BUCKS.Tickets, which are $5 each, also are available at all McDonald’slocations in Columbus. One dollar from each ticket sold at OhioState will go to support the National Youth Sports Program (NYSP),which is conducted each year on the Ohio State campus and benefitsinner-city youths in Columbus. Additionally, a dollar from eachticket sold at a McDonald’s location will be donated to the RonaldMcDonald House. Saturday, tickets will be sold (cash only) startingat 9 a.m. Fans can purchase tickets from the ticket office at OhioStadium near gate 7, at the North Rotunda and at NE well near gate4. In addition, tickets held at will call can be picked up at theticket office located on the southeast side of St. John Arena andtickets will be sold at this location as well. Sixth-ranked men’svolleyball (22-3, 10-2 Midwestern Intercollegiate VolleyballAssociation) lost 3-1 at 15th-ranked Ball State and defeatedMercyhurst, 3-0 at home to win the outright MIVA regular seasonchampionship. At Ball State, Brett Versen scored amatch/career-high 20.5 points with Robbie Klein adding 18.5. DanMeske (MES-kee) had a match-high 12.5 points against Mercyhurstwith Klein adding 11.5. The Buckeyes received a bye in thequarterfinals of the MIVA Tournament. The quarterfinals are beingplayed this Friday and Saturday. The winners of the threequarterfinals and Ohio State advance to the MIVA semifinals, hostedby Ohio State in St. John Arena, April 26. The semifinals are at 5and 7:30 p.m. with Ohio State playing the winner of the BallState-Lewis quarterfinal match at 7:30 p.m.
The semifinal winners advance to the championship match, April 28 at 5 p.m. with the winner receiving a bid to the NCAA Championship semifinals, May 3, in St. John Arena.
The third ranked men’s tennis team beat both Purdue and No. 9Illinois 7-0 Saturday and Sunday, respectively. The Buckeyesextended their home win streak to 53 matches. The win over Illinoisclosed out the fourth consecutive season the Buckeyes have goneundefeated at home. They are 12-0 and have outscored theiropponents 90-1 at home this season. Indiana was the only team toclaim a point off OSU at home this season (6-1). The win overIllinois marked the 13th time this season, and seven out of thelast eight matches, the Buckeyes have shut out an opponent 7-0.Ohio State has outscored opponents, 138-15, this season. Opposingteams have managed to take only 49 of 207 singles sets from theBuckeyes. The women’s tennis team was 2-0 over the weekend, postingroad wins at Purdue (5-2) and Illinois (4-3). The Buckeyes are now17-7 this season, ranking fourth in program history insingle-season wins. The squad is 5-2 in the Big Ten heading intothe last week of regular-season action. Buckeye senior SoniaRuzimovsky clinched both wins last weekend, with three-setvictories at the No. 4 position.
The Buckeyes close out the regular season with three home matches this weekend. The team will take on No. 9 Northwestern at 2 p.m. Wednesday in a rescheduled match. Ohio State then hosts No. 25 Michigan at 11 a.m. Saturday and Penn State at 11 a.m. Sunday. All three matches are scheduled for Stickney Tennis Center. In the event of inclement weather, they will be moved indoors to Jesse Owens West Tennis Center.
Pejman Ebrahimi (PAGE-mon EE-bra-hee-mee) of the men’sgymnastics team won his first career national vault title Saturdayat the 2007 NCAA Individual Event Championships in University Park,Pa. Of five qualified Buckeyes, Ohio State had four gymnastscombine to earn five All-America laurels. DJ Bucher (BOO-ker) addedtwo more All-America honors to his resume to give him six overallas he finished second on parallel bars and tied for fourth onrings. Jimmy Wickham was tabbed All-America on vault (third place)and senior Willie Ito ended his collegiate career with earning thenational distinction on parallel bars (seventh place).
Head coach Miles Avery (AY-ver-ee) and assistant coach Doug Stibel were named Central Region Coach and Assistant Coach of the Year, respectively, at the 2007 NCAA/CGA banquet. For Avery, the honor is the third of its kind in his 10-year tenure at the helm of the Ohio State program. His first came in 2002 and he also earned the distinction in 2005. Stibel, in his sixth season as assistant coach, earned his first assistant coach of the year honor. Avery has coached 22 All-Americans and eight NCAA individual event and all-around champions since 1998.
As a team, the Buckeyes finished fourth at the national qualifier (April 12) with a team total of 215.25. The fourth-place finish knocked the squad out of contention for a NCAA team championship title for the second-straight season.
The No. 21 women’s gymnastics team finished fifth at the NCAACentral Region Championships Saturday night at Alabama with a teamscore of 194.650. Junior Kaylan Clevinger (KAY-lin CLEV-in-ger)scored a 9.90 on bars, which qualified for the NCAA Championshipsheld on April 28 in Salt Lake City. She will be the firstrepresentative from Ohio State to qualify for nationals since 1999.Jacob Howell of the baseball team has been named one of 30candidates for Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award Monday. The honor ispresented each year to an outstanding NCAA Division I collegebaseball player who has excelled both on and off the field. Thefifth-year senior is one of four captains on the 2007 Ohio Statebaseball team and is hitting .330 as the leadoff hitter for theBuckeyes. Howell leads OSU with 27 runs scored on the year and has31 hits, 10 RBI, eight stolen bases, three doubles, three triplesand two homeruns.
Last weekend, the Buckeyes dropped a four-game series to Michigan and had a mid-week game vs. Miami (Ohio) cancelled because of weather. Ohio State came within inches of winning the Friday Michigan game, tying the game at 4-all in the ninth before losing, 10-4, in 10 innings. The team then dropped game two, 12-4, game three, 6-3, and game four, 13-3. OSU is 18-9 overall, 4-6 in the Big Ten.
With the addition of one Ball State game, Ohio State is in the midst of an 11-game homestand that started last Friday. The Buckeyes play a doubleheader against Ball State Wednesday instead of its originally scheduled single game. Ohio State will play two seven-inning games starting at 3 p.m. at Bill Davis Stadium. After the Ball State twin-bill, OSU will play host to Indiana Friday-Sunday in a four-game Big Ten series.
The Buckeyes hit just .220 in the four-game Michigan series but Eric Fryer continued his top-of-line work by hitting .500 (6-12). J.B. Shuck (SHUCK) only hit in three games because he pitched in game three, but was 5-9 (.556) in the series. Shuck leads OSU at the plate with a .402 average, while Fryer leads the team in RBI (26) and hits (38) and is batting .369, second on the team.
On the hill last week, Cory Luebke (LUBE-key) pitched a solid seven innings in the Friday night game but got a no decision. For the season, Luebke is 4-0 with a 1.92 ERA and a team-high 47 strikeouts. Shuck is 1-1 with a 4.10 ERA and is second on the team with 26 strikeouts. Josh Barrera (Ba-RARE-uh) is 4-1 with a 4.59 ERA. Rory Meister is 2-2 and made his first career start last Sunday after 65 relief appearances. Despite the loss, he has a 2.70 ERA.
After an 11 day layoff, the softball team knocked off No. 7Northwestern in Evanston last Friday in extra innings and now sitsin first place in the Big Ten standings at 5-1. The Buckeyes are22-14 overall and host IUPUI Wednesday at 5 p.m. before gettingback on the road for league games at Illinois and Iowa thisweekend. Senior Jamee Juarez (WAR-ez) is closing in on several OSUcareer pitching records, while freshman Sam Marder continues tolead the team in average (.344), home runs (8) and RBI (31). Aftera week off, the men’s lacrosse team returns to action with twogames in Colorado. The Buckeyes, 6-4 on the year and 2-0 in theGreat Western Lacrosse League, will play at Air Force at 5 p.m. ETFriday in Colorado Springs, Colo., and at Denver at 3:30 p.m. ETSunday in Denver. Women’s lacrosse (7-5, 0-2 American LacrosseConference) defeated UC-Davis, 17-4 and lost to Vanderbilt, 10-9,last week. In the UC-Davis game, Jessica Patane equaled the OhioState game record (with nine others) of six goals against theAggies with Kelly Haggerty adding four and Keri Yourick andBrittney Zerhusen scoring two each. Kristen Slahor equaled the OhioState game record of eight assists and added a goal. Slahor’s eightassists raised her career-total to 66 to break the previous OhioState career record of 62 held by Tracey Bounds (2000-03). In theVanderbilt loss, the Buckeyes trailed 8-3 in the second half butrallied to within one goal with late scores from Bethany Carey andAmanda Shimp in the final three minutes. Shimp tallied three goalsin the contest with Yourick adding two. The rowing team won fiveraces at the Big Ten Invitational hosted by Michigan State Saturdayat Lake Ovid in Laigsburg, Mich. In the final regular-seasonregatta of 2007, the third-ranked OSU first varsity eight boatdefeated No. 11 Michigan and No. 20 Michigan State to improve to7-1 this season with six victories against nationally-ranked crews.In the double-dual format, Ohio State faced Michigan State in themorning session and Michigan in the afternoon. Fellow Big Tenschool Indiana also raced in the event. Ohio State also wasvictorious in the second varsity eight and first varsity four racesagainst Michigan in the second session and the second varsity fourrace against Michigan State in the morning.
After a week off, the Buckeyes will travel to Madison, Wis., to begin postseason racing April 28 at the 2007 Big Ten Championships. Ohio State is the defending conference champion, and with its 2002 and 2006 titles is only the second program in the Big Ten to win multiple crowns.
The women’s track and field team competed in an abbreviated2007 Sea Ray Relays in Knoxville, Tenn. Poor weather conditionsended the meet midday Saturday. In field events, Veronica Jatsek(JAT-sic) posted a third-place effort in the hammer (190-8) andVeronica Vance reached 40-5 in the triple jump to place sixth.Freshman Ashley Bowden scored a tie for eighth place in the polevault at a career-best 11-5 3/4.
The Buckeyes return to their home state this weekend for the 2007 All-Ohio Championships Friday and Saturday in Cincinnati.
Poor weather conditions canceled competition midday Saturdayfor the men’s track and field team at the 2007 Sea Ray Relays inKnoxville, Tenn. Several Buckeyes posted impressive marks beforethe event was halted. The distance relay team of Robert Sturges,Taylor Candella, John Ealy and Chad Balyo (BAL-yo) opened the meetFriday with a second-place showing (15:46.54) in the 4×1500-meterrelay. Balyo continued with a third-place time of 3:49.12 in the1500-meter individual race. Lenny Jatsek (JAT-sic) led the Buckeyesin the field events, posting a pair of No. 3 finishes in thethrows. He reached 54 feet, 10 ¼ inches in the shot putand heaved the discus 162-6. Saturday, Dave Ebersole placed fourthin the men’s hammer open (198-4). His throw served as an NCAAMideast Regional qualifier. In the jumps, Marios Iacovous (MAR-eosya-co-VOO) cleared 6-8 ¾ to tie for fifth in the highjump.
The Buckeyes next compete in the 2007 All-Ohio Championships Friday and Saturday in Cincinnati.
The men’s golf team finished in seventh place at the KeplerIntercollegiate Sunday. The Buckeyes shot rounds of 305-315 (620)over the two-day, 36-hole rain-shortened event at The OSU Golf ClubScarlet Course (par 71, 7455) in Columbus, Ohio. Senior Jared Jonesled the Buckeyes with a 18th-place tie after firing off rounds of77-76 (153). The finish was an individual season best for Jones.The Buckeyes return to action April 21-22 at the FossumIntercollegiate in East Lansing, Mich. The women’s golf team willreturn to competition April 21-22 as they host the 2007 LadyBuckeye Spring Invitational at the Ohio State Golf Club’s ScarletCourse. The Buckeyes last saw tournament action April 6-8, placingninth at the Bryan National Collegiate. The Lady Buckeye will markthe squad’s fourth tournament of the spring season and their lastcompetition before heading to the Big Ten tournament. JessicaDavenport and Katie Smith, former All-Americans on the women’sbasketball team, helped USA Basketball Women’s Senior National Teamstart its tour of Italy with a pair of victories Wednesday andThursday. Davenport (2004-07) netted seven points and four reboundsin Team USA’s 77-47 win over the Italian National Team Wednesday inRome. Smith (1993-96) poured in nine points, including a 3-for-5clip from 3-point land, in the Americans’ 72-49 decision over anItalian professional team in Napels. Team USA continues its tourwith a second match up against an Italian pro squad Monday inViterbo, Italy.
Ohio State Athletics Schedule
April 17 – April 23
April 17
Men’s Swimming and Diving at U.S. Open Diving Championships, All Day
Boyds, Md.
April 18
Baseball vs. Ball State, 3 p.m.
Columbus, Ohio
Bill Davis Stadium
Baseball vs. Ball State, 5:30 p.m.
Columbus, Ohio
Bill Davis Stadium
Softball vs. IUPUI, 5p.m.
Columbus, Ohio
Buckeye Field
Softball vs. IUPUI, 7p.m.
Columbus, Ohio
Buckeye Field
Women’s Tennis vs. Northwestern, 2 p.m.
Columbus, Ohio
Stickney Tennis Center
Men’s Swimming and Diving at U.S. Open Diving Championships, All Day
Boyds, Md.
April 19
Men’s Swimming and Diving at U.S. Open Diving Championships, All Day
Boyds, Md.
April 20
Baseball vs. Indiana, 6:35 p.m.
Columbus, Ohio
Bill Davis Stadium
Softball at Illinois, 6 p.m.
Champaign, Ill.
Men’s Tennis at Penn State, Noon
State College, Pa.
Men’s Lacrosse at Air Force, 4 p.m.
Colorado Spring, Colo.
Women’s Lacrosse at Penn State, 7 p.m.
State College, Pa.
Women’s Track at All-Ohio, All Day
Cincinnati, Ohio
Men’s Track at Tournament, All Day
Cincinnati, Ohio
April 21
Women’s Tennis vs. Michigan, 11 a.m.
Columbus, Ohio
Stickney Tennis Center
Women’s Golf at Lady Buckeye Spring Invitational, All Day
Columbus, Ohio
The Ohio State University Golf Club’s Scarlet Course
Women’s Track at All-Ohio, All Day
Cincinnati, Ohio
Men’s Track at Tournament, All Day
Cincinnati, Ohio
Men’s Golf at Fossum Intercollegiate, All Day
Lansing, Mich.
April 22
Women’s Tennis vs. Penn State, 11 a.m.
Columbus, Ohio
Stickney Tennis Center
Men’s Tennis at Michigan, Noon
Ann Arbor, Mich.
Women’s Lacrosse at Bucknell, 1 p.m.
Lewisburg, Pa.
Men’s Lacrosse at Denver, 1:30 p.m.
Denver, Colo.
Men’s Golf at Fossum Intercollegiate, All Day
Lansing, Mich.
Women’s Golf at Lady Buckeye Spring Invitational, All Day
Columbus, Ohio
The Ohio State University Golf Club’s Scarlet Course
