Athletics Good Stuff – Ohio State Buckeyes
5/15/2007 12:00:00 AM | General
May 15, 2007
Athletes of the Week
Junior Veronica Jatsek (JAT-sik) set a Big Ten championshipsrecord with a victory in the hammer Friday with a season-best tossof 208 feet, 2 inches. Her throw is the second-best in Ohio Statehistory and the eighth-best mark in the country this year. Jatsekbroke the Big Ten meet record set by former Buckeye Keturah Loftonof 200 feet, 7 inches set in 2004. Jatsek advances to the 2007 NCAAMideast Regional Championships May 25-26 in Columbia, Mo. She isthe No. 2 ranked hammer thrower in the Mideast region. Softballsenior Jamee Juarez was named the most outstanding player of theBig Ten Tournament last weekend, leading the top-seeded Buckeyes tothe tournament title with a 2-0 win over sixth-ranked NorthwesternSaturday. In the circle, Juarez went 2-0 with a 0.70 earned runaverage during Ohio State’s three wins with 18 strikeouts and twowalks in 10.0 innings pitched. Juarez also added the game-tying RBIin the championship game. Overall this season, Juarez is 20-8 witha 1.50 ERA and a .289 batting average. She is the third Buckeye toearn All-Big Ten honors all four years and owns four OSU careerpitching records.
Athletics Good Stuff
Remaining perfect at home this season (19-0), the Big Tenchampion softball team won the Big Ten tournament Saturday, going3-0 in the event with a 2-1 win over sixth-ranked Northwestern inthe championship game to earn the program’s first automatic bid tothe NCAA tournament. Sunday, the NCAA awarded Ohio State an homeregional beginning Friday, when Virginia Tech, Cal State Fullertonand Canisius will meet at Buckeye Field in a double-eliminationregional. Senior Jamee Juarez (WAR-ez) was named the mostoutstanding player of the Big Ten tournament, while Linda Kalafatis(Kaluh-fa-tis) was named the Big Ten coach of the year for thesecond time. The rowing team won its fifth-consecutive CentralRegion championship Sunday at the 2007 Aramark Central/South RegionSprints on Melton Hill Lake in Oak Ridge, Tenn. The Buckeyesfinished atop the Central Region standings with a total of 366points, with fellow Big Ten team Wisconsin taking second with 346points. Virginia won the South Region title and was first in theoverall standings with 440 points. Ohio State topped 12 other teamsracing in the Central Region, including Big Ten champion Minnesotaand Big East champion Notre Dame. The Buckeyes raced in two GrandFinals and three Petite Finals, amassing points for each placementin the races.
Ohio State awaits the NCAA championship field announcement, which will be made Tuesday at 3 p.m. The Buckeyes are looking for their eighth-consecutive NCAA appearance. The 2007 NCAA Championships will be held May 25-27 at the same site as the Aramark Central/South Region Sprints on Melton Hill Lake in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
The No. 2-seeded men’s tennis team (29-1) will face No. 16 LSUat noon Thursday at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga.,in the round 16 of the 2007 NCAA Men’s Tennis tournament. TheBuckeyes and Tigers (18-6) will meet for the second time thisseason. OSU claimed the first match up Feb. 24 in Baton Rouge, La.,by a 4-2 score. OSU has reached the round of 16 four of the lastfive years.
The winner will face either Illinois or Mississippi in the quarterfinals. Ohio State has beaten Illinois twice this season. The first came on April 15 in Columbus where the Buckeyes won 7-0. The second was April 29 in West Lafayette, Ind., in the final of the 2007 Big Ten Tournament. OSU won 4-1. The Buckeyes have yet to face Mississippi this campaign.
Ohio State advanced to Georgia by beating the Ivy-League champion Columbia 4-0 Friday at the Stickney Tennis Center in Columbus. It marked the second- consecutive year the Buckeyes hosted the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. OSU then beat Tennessee 4-1, to book its ticket to Athens. Tennessee had beaten Miami (Fla.) 4-3 in the first round.
With the win, Ohio State set the school record for season wins with 29. The previous mark was set last year when the Buckeyes went 28-2.
The men’s track and field team competed at the 2007 Big TenOutdoor Track and Field Championships at Penn State last weekend.Sophomores Elon (EE-lon) Simms and Matt Comer (Comb-er) combined topost the Buckeyes’ top event with second- and fourth-place times(50.79 and 51.64) in the 400-meter hurdles. In the team standings,Ohio State was ninth with 52 points. The pair also combined to helpthe 4×400-meter relay team finish fourth in 3:08.86. In the 4x100mrelays, two-time Big Ten sprint champion Tony Cole joined threerecent roster additions from the football team – Chimde Chekwa(Chim-dee Cheek-wa), Malcolm Jenkins and Dan Potokar – to post athird-place time (41.01)
In the hammer throw, Dave Ebersole (EBER-sol) hit a season best mark of 198 feet, 1 inch to earn a fourth-place finish. Lenny Jatsek (Jat-sik) took sixth in the hammer (192-11) and fifth in the shot put (56-5 1/2).
The women’s track and field team competed in the 2007 Big TenOutdoor Track and Field Championships at Penn State last weekend.Junior Veronica Jatsek (JAT-sik) set a Big Ten championships recordwith a victory in the hammer Friday. She was joined on theall-conference team by sophomore sprinter Ayrizanna Favours(AY-riz-ah-nuh FAVE-ors), who was second in the 200-meter dash.Jatsek won the hammer with a season-best toss of 208 feet 2 inches.That is the second-best throw in Ohio State history and theeighth-best mark in the country this year. Jatsek broke the Big Tenmeet record set by former Buckeye Keturah Lofton of 200 feet, 7inches set in 2004. Favours, who was an All-Big Ten honoree in the2007 indoor season, crossed the finish line in 23.71 seconds forher No. 2 finish in the 200m. Later, she anchored the 4×400-meterrelay to a sixth-place time of 3:42.55.
Senior jumpers Jessica Stringer and Veronica Vance closed their Big Ten careers with scoring performances. Stringer, the two-time defending conference outdoor high jump champion, cleared a season-best 5 feet, 10 ½ inches and took third. Vance posted a Top 5 finish in the triple jump, reaching a season-best 41-3 ¾.
The baseball team will wrap up its home season with a pair ofnon-conference games vs. North Florida Tuesday and Wednesday atBill Davis Stadium. Tuesday’s game starts at 6:35 p.m., with firstpitch at 12:05 p.m. Wednesday. After North Florida, the Buckeyeshead to Penn State Friday-Sunday for the final Big Ten regularseries of the season. Ohio State is 30-19 overall and 14-12 in theBig Ten, tied for fifth place.
The Ohio State University is joining with Columbus Public Schools (CPS) for “CPS Day” Wednesday. Nearly 3,000 sixth-graders from 30 Columbus Public Schools will travel to campus for an educational pep rally at 10 a.m. in Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium followed by a sold-out Buckeye baseball game
With just four games remaining in Big Ten play, Ohio State needs just one win to secure a spot in the Big Ten tournament. The Buckeyes are 14-12 in conference play, tied for fifth place with Illinois. The top six teams qualify for the tournament. Both OSU and Illinois are 1.5 games ahead of seventh place Michigan State. With Illinois (14-12) and Michigan State (13-14) facing each other this weekend and OSU owning the tiebreaker over Illinois, one win gets the Buckeyes in.
J.B. Shuck leads the team with a .382 average and has 55 hits and 32 RBI. Justin Miller lead OSU with 67 hits, 43 RBI and 14 doubles, and is second on the team in batting at .366 average.
On the mound, Cory Luebke (LUBE-key) is 7-1 with a 2.09 ERA and a team-high 74 strikeouts. Shuck is 4-2 with a 3.94 ERA and is second on the team with 48 strikeouts. Jake Hale has a team-high 10 saves on the year with 36 strikeouts in 41.2 innings.
The Ohio State women’s golf team concluded the 2006-07 seasonMay 10-12 placing 11th in the field of 21 at the NCAA CentralRegional in Ann Arbor, Mich.. Senior Dana Je led the Buckeyesfinishing tied for 15th with a score of 222 (73-77-72). Je had astrong finish, birdying three holes to move up 21 spots from herday two position. The women’s tennis team announced its team awardsat its banquet Friday. Freshman Christina Keesey was named the MostValuable Player, while sophomore Julie Voss earned the MostImproved Player award. Keesey and Voss tied for the team lead with23 singles wins each this season. Sophomore Angela DiPastina wasthe recipient of the Coach’s Award and Keesey won the Strength andConditioning Award. Seniors Sonia Ruzimovsky and Ciara Finucanealso were honored. The team was 18-10 on the year, tying for thesecond-most wins in a single season in program history. Seven men’slacrosse players were named to the All-Great Western LacrosseLeague teams, the conference announced. Midfielder Kevin Buchanan,attackman Joel Dalgarno, longstick midfielder Ricky Pages anddefenseman Jeff Schneider were selected to the first team, whiledefensive middie Josh Funk, midfielder Jeff Ryan and goalie StefanSchroder picked up second-team honors.
The No. 19-ranked Buckeyes (9-5, 4-1/2nd GWLL) tied league champion Notre Dame for the most first-team All-GWLL selections and were one behind the Irish for the most players honored this year. The seven honorees are one shy of the Ohio State program record of eight All-GWLL selections in 1988, tying the 2002 squad for second place.
Marscilla Packer, who will enter her senior season at shootingguard for the women’s basketball team in 2007-08, accepted aninvitation to tryout for USA Basketball’s Under-21 team and its2007 Pan American Games team. Packer will vie for a roster spotagainst 46 other invitees May 17-20 at the U.S. Olympic TrainingCenter (USOTC) in Colorado Springs, Colo. She is one of eightreturning players from last summer’s USA Basketball U20 NationalTeam that qualified the USA for the 2007 U21 World Championships.
The Big Ten and Atlantic Coast Conferences announced Monday the schedule for the 2007 Women’s Basketball Big Ten/ACC Challenge. Ohio State will take on Maryland Nov. 30 at the Comcast Center in College Park, Md. Tip times and television broadcast information for the Big Ten/ACC Challenge will be announced at a later date.
Ohio State Athletics Schedule
May 15 – May 22
May 15
Baseball vs. North Florida, 6:35 p.m.
Columbus, Ohio
Bill Davis Stadium
May 16
Baseball vs. North Florida, Noon
Columbus, Ohio
Bill Davis Stadium
May 17
Men’s Tennis vs. LSU, Noon
Athens, Ga.
May 18
Baseball at Penn State, 6:35 p.m.
State College, Pa.
Softball NCAA Regional Tournament
Virginia Tech vs. Canisius, 5 p.m.
Columbus, Ohio
Buckeye Field
Softball NCAA Regional Tournament
Softball vs. Cal State Fullerton, 7:30 p.m.
Columbus, Ohio
Buckeye Field
May 19
Baseball at Penn State, 4:05 p.m.
State College, Pa.
Baseball at Penn State, 6:35 p.m.
State College, Pa.
Softball vs. TBA, TBA
Columbus, Ohio
Buckeye Field
Men’s Tennis vs. TBA, TBA
Athens, Ga.
May 20
Softball NCAA Regional Tournament
TBA vs. TBA, TBA
Columbus, Ohio
Buckeye Field
May 21
Men’s Tennis at Semifinals, TBA
Athens, Ga.
May 22
Men’s Tennis at NCAA championships, TBA
Athens, Ga.
