Athletics Good Stuff – Ohio State Buckeyes
5/8/2007 12:00:00 AM | General
May 8, 2007
Athletes of the Week
In a career that already includes four Ohio State all-timepitching records, softball senior Jamee Juarez notched anothermilestone Monday when she was named the Big Ten pitcher of the weekfor the third-consecutive week. Juarez is the first Buckeye ever toreceive three consecutive weekly honors from the Big Ten and isonly the second player in league history to earn three consecutiveweekly awards.
Extending her personal winning streak to nine consecutive games and setting two more school records, Juarez went 2-0 last week with a 0.84 earned run average and struck out 25 in 16.2 innings. She pitched 11.2 of the 14 innings against Penn State in a weekend sweep that gave Ohio State its second Big Ten championship and first since 1990.
Men’s lacrosse sophomore Joel Dalgarno led the Buckeyes to a17-7 win over Army with a career-high five goals. He added anassist for six points in the game, his second-highest point totalthis season. His five goals against Army marked a career best,topping the four he had vs. North Carolina earlier this season, andwere a team season high. The six-point effort extended his pointstreak, which began in his first game as a Buckeye, to 27 games(53-38-91). He ended the year first on the team and in the GreatWestern Lacrosse League with a career-best 50 points, the first50-point season for the Buckeyes since 2003 (Curtis Smith/53) andranks 17th (tied) in program history for a single season.
Athletics Good Stuff
A record crowd and a record dollar amount highlighted the SixthAnnual Connor Senn Memorial Game Wednesday night in Jesse OwensMemorial Stadium as the men’s soccer team topped the Columbus Crew,1-0. Approximately $23,000 was generated from corporate sponsors,patrons and the 2,053 fans who saw Crew midfielder Danny O’Rourkewear No. 22 with “SENN” on the back in honor of his seven-year clubsoccer teammate and former Buckeye who collapsed on the fieldduring at game at Akron in 2001 and died later night from acongenital heart defect.
O’Rourke then put the jersey into the silent auction, which helped generate the record amount for the Connor Senn Memorial Scholarship Fund that has nearly reached the $100,000 needed for it to become fully endowed.
The softball team swept Penn State last weekend to win itssecond Big Ten championship and first since 1990. The Buckeyes willnow host the Big Ten tournament beginning Thursday evening whensecond-seeded Northwestern plays at 5 p.m. and top-seeded OhioState plays at 7:30. There are four games scheduled for Friday inthe single-elimination event, with the championship game scheduledfor 1 p.m. Saturday. The Buckeyes are 35-16 overall and are 16-0 athome so far this spring. The No. 2-seeded Ohio State men’s tennisteam (27-1) will face Columbia Friday in the first round of the2007 NCAA Men’s Tennis tournament at Stickney Tennis Center. TheBuckeyes and Lions (16-4) will meet for the first time. Match timeshave not been determined. The other match on the Ohio State campusin first round play features No. 34 Miami (11-13) vs. No. 25Tennessee (16-7). Ohio State will be represented in both the 2007NCAA Men’s Tennis Singles and Doubles tournaments in Athens, Ga.,later this month after the team portion of the championships hasconcluded. Sophomore Steven Moneke was selected as the No. 6 seedin the singles tournament. Fellow sophomore Bryan Koniecko andsenior Devin Mullings are at-large selections for the field of 64singles players. Chris Klingemann and Mullings received an at-largebid to compete in the doubles section of the tournament. Thesingles and doubles competition will be conducted May 23-28 at theDan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga., following the conclusionof the team championship (May 17-22). The women’s track and fieldteam played host to the 2007 Jesse Owens Classic Saturday in JesseOwens Memorial Stadium. Sophomore Ayrizanna Favours (AY-riz-ahnuhFAVE-ors) placed second in the 200-meter dash (24.16) and third inthe 100m in a season-best time of 11.90. In the 100m, she placedbehind two-time Big Ten champion Jenna Harris (11.80), who istaking a redshirt season for the Buckeyes in 2007. Favours alsoanchored the women’s 4×100-meter relay to victory in 47.20.
In throw events, Veronica Jatsek (JAT-sick) started the day by posting a fourth-place heave of 137 feet, 7 inches in the discus. Later, she added a season-best mark of 48-4 1/2 to win the shot put. Jatsek tacked on a runner-up finish in the hammer with a distance of 199-4. Ashley Bowden won the pole vault, clearing 11-6 1/4. She was followed by teammate Kim Willet at 11-0 1/4.
Also in the field, senior Jessica Stringer, a three-time Big Ten high jump champion, took runner-up in the event with a height of 5-7 1/4. She lost a jump off with Ohio State volunteer assistant coach Christine Spence, who also claimed victory in the women’s 100-meter hurdles. Senior Veronia Vance swept the horizontal jumps, taking the long jump at a distance of 18-9 3/4 and the triple at 38-11 3/4. Fellow Buckeye Rashana Lord finished second behind Vance, reaching 38-3 1/2 in the triple.
Senior Melanie Price highlighted the distance events with a first-place time of 5:04.26.
This week, the Buckeyes head to State College, Pa., for the 2007 Big Ten Championships Friday-Sunday.
The men’s track and field team closed its regular seasonSaturday with the 2007 Jesse Owens Classic in Jesse Owens MemorialStadium. The distance races closed the day and featured severalformer Buckeye All-Americans who ran for Reebok. Rob Myers bestedhis own meet and stadium record to win the mile in 3:59.43. Myers’mark ranks sixth in the nation this season and topped Jeff See, anOhio State redshirt in the 2007 outdoor season, and his time of4:00.80. See’s time also broke into the nation’s Top 10. Senior JoeGourley (GORE-lee) kicked off the distance events with a win in the800m in a time of 1:51.06. Junior John Ealy used a kick down thestretch to move from fourth to first in the 3,000m with aseason-best time of 8:17.64.
The men’s 4×100-meter relay team topped the field. Junior Tony Cole combined with three recent additions from the football team – junior Malcolm Jenkins, sophomore Dan Potokar (PO-TOW-KAR) and freshman Chimdi Chekwa (Chim-dee CHEEK-wah) – to set a season-best time of 41.37. Matt Comer (Comb-er) and Elon (EE-lon) Simms joined with senior Gerald Griffin and sophomore Stephen Robinson to win the 4x400m relay in 3:11.79. Individually on the track, Comer was second in the 400m in a time of 48.49. Teammates Brandon Woodard and Kevin Neal rounded out the Top 5 with third- and fifth-place times of 48.74 and 49.03. Simms also was victorious in the 400m hurdles in 52.09.
In the field, Donald Washington made his debut in the long jump and finished fourth at 21-5 1/2. Washington also was an addition from the Buckeye football team. Brandon Cathcart won the triple jump, reaching 49-1 3/4. In the throws, Lenny Jatsek (JAT-sick) tossed the discus 167-7 to place third. He also posted a sixth-place heave of 193-8 in the hammer.
This week, the Buckeyes head to State College, Pa., for the 2007 Big Ten Championships Friday-Sunday.
Women’s lacrosse (9-7, 1-3 American Lacrosse Conference) closedout the season with a 9-7 loss to Penn State in the ALC Tournamentin a game played at Johns Hopkins. Amanda Shimp scored three goalswith Keri Yourick, Kelly Haggerty, Natale Miller and Jessica Pataneadding one each. Kristen Gilwee took the loss in goal making eightsaves.
Five women’s lacrosse players were named to the 2007 American Lacrosse Conference All-Conference Team. Patane was named to the first team while Danielle Gibson, Gilwee, Shimp and Slahor were named to the second team.
The No. 19-ranked men’s lacrosse team wrapped up its seasonwith a 17-7 win over Army Sunday on Senior Day in Jesse OwensMemorial Stadium. Sophomore Joel Dalgarno had a career-best fivegoals and added an assist for six points in the win, while seniorJoe Benson and junior Kevin Buchanan each had four points. TheBuckeyes ended the year 9-5 and finished second in the GreatWestern Lacrosse League with a 4-1 ledger. The baseball team hit abump in the road in Big Ten play last week, dropping three of fourgames against Michigan State at home over the weekend. The Buckeyessit in fifth place in the conference, two games ahead of Illinoisas the top six teams in the conference qualify for the leaguetournament. The Buckeyes are 28-15 overall and 12-10 in Big Tenaction.
For the week, J.B. Shuck led Ohio State at the plate with a .571 average (8-14) and five RBI. Justin Miller hit .444, had seven RBI and hit his first career home run. Jason Zoeller hit his team-leading seventh home run, a career high. Cory Luebke (LUBE-key) went 1-0 on the week to improve to 7-0. Eric Best picked up the other Buckeye win during the week. On the mound, Luebke has a 1.91 ERA and a team-high 69 strikeouts while sophomore Jake Hale has a team-high 10 saves on the year with 29 strikeouts in 32.2 innings.
The Buckeyes wrap up conference play with eight straight road games, starting with a series at Minnesota Friday-Sunday and ending with a series at Penn State (May 18-20). Three of four games at Minnesota (Games 1, 3 & 4) will be broadcast on radio on AM 920 WMNI. All four games have audio available on ohiostatebuckeyes.com and will be on Gametracker at ohiostatebuckeyes.com. Ohio State starts the week off with a pair of home games vs. Western Carolina at 6:35 p.m. Tuesday and 1:05 p.m. Wednesday at Bill Davis Stadium.
After a week off from competition, the rowing team heads to OakRidge, Tenn., to compete in the 2007 Aramark South/Central RegionChampionships May 12-13. The Buckeyes have won the last fourCentral Region championships and finished first in the overall teamstandings of the event in 2006. Last year also marked just thesecond time a Big Ten team has won both the conference title andCentral Region title in the same season. Ohio State will race insix events, led by the 12th-ranked first varsity eight boat. Thesecond varsity eight, first and second varsity four and first andsecond novice eight crews will compete as well. After finishingfourth at the Big Ten tournament, the women’s golf team travels toAnn Arbor, Mich., to open the 2007 NCAA Women’s Golf Championships,Thursday-Saturday. The Buckeyes will compete in the NCAA CentralRegional, held at the par-71, 6,116-yard University of MichiganGolf Course. The 54-hole tournament will consist of three 18-holerounds. All rounds will begin at 8 a.m.
The East and West regional will be competing simultaneously. Each region will advance eight teams and two individuals to the NCAA Championships, May 22-25, at the LPGA International Golf Course in Daytona Beach, Fla.
Men’s volleyball finished the year ranked ninth in the final2007 College Sports Television/American Volleyball CoachesAssociation Division I-II Men’s Top 15 Coaches Poll released May 7.The Buckeyes began the season ranked 11th and rose to sixth in therankings during April. Daniel Mathews has been named a first teamAmerican Volleyball Coaches Association All-America. He is OhioState’s first, first team All-America since Rene Esteves in 2000.Mathews ranks third in the nation with 13.29 assists per game,while leading the Buckeyes to a .352 team-hitting percentage, whichis also third best in the nation. The Midwest IntercollegiateVolleyball Association (MIVA) Player of the Year is also rankedfifth in the conference with 35 aces on the year. Matthews is afirst-time AVCA All-American. He started all 27 matches for theBuckeyes who finished 23-4 overall and had a 10-2 conferencerecord. The men’s hockey team held its annual banquet Saturday atThe Blackwell. Senior captain Sean Collins was voted the BobbyBrown Most Valuable Player by his teammates and also picked up theleading scorer award. Senior Mathieu Beaudoin (MATH-you bo-DWAY)was named the Center Ice Club Scholar-Athlete, the Most ImprovedPlayer award went to senior Tyson Strachan (STRACK-in), juniorJohann Kroll won the Joseph W. Smith Best Defensive Player awardand Corey Elkins received the Coaches Award. The women’s hockeyteam celebrated its successes from the 2006-07 season Sunday at theteam’s banquet, during which the winners of the team’s awards andthe captains for the 2007-08 season were announced. Junior forwardErin Keys received the Most Valuable Offensive Award and classmateLisa Chesson (CHESS-on) was given the Most Valuable DefensiveAward. Most Valuable Freshman was handed out to defenseman RachelDavis while a pair of forwards, junior Jody Heywood and sophomoreHayley Klassen (CLASS-in), earned the Most Improved Awards. Juniorforward Mallory Peckels received the Seventh Player Award for herteam dedication and hard work and sophomore forward Morgan Marzialiwas given the Scarlet and Gray Award for most intense competitor.Goaltender Liana Bonanno (le-AA-na bo-NAA-no) earned the AcademicAward and forward Olivia Antognoli (an-tug-NO-lee) earned theBuckeye Power Club Award.
Defenseman Tessa Bonhomme (ba-NAAM) was named captain for the 2007-08 season. She was a co-captain last season during which she was named an AHCA Second Team All-American and earned First Team All-WCHA honors. Chesson, Heywood and Peckels were named assistant captains – the first such honor for all three.
Ohio State wrestling Buckeyes J Jaggers, Mike Pucillo(POO-sil-oh) and Chris Vondruska (von-DROO-ska) were named to theNational Wrestling Coaches Association All-Academic Team theorganization announced Monday. The three OSU honorees tied for thethird-most for a school with Duquesne, Missouri and Oklahoma State.Ohio State was just one of 11 schools with multiple honorees.Alison Jackson, Brittany Johnson and Jantel Lavender, who signedNational Letters of Intent with Ohio State in November, have beeninvited to the 2007 USA Basketball Under-19 Junior National TeamTrials. The camp will run from May 17-20 in Colorado Springs, Colo.All three Buckeyes participated in USA Basketball’s U18 teamtryouts last year. Lavender made the squad and helped the Americanspost a 4-0 record and claim the gold medal at the 2006 FIBAAmericas U18 Championship. USA Basketball will conduct the 2007Women’s Junior National and National Team Trials in order to selectfinalists for three USA Basketball squads-the U19 WorldChampionship Team, U21 World Championship Team and Pan AmericanGames Team. Trials for all three teams will take place at the U.S.Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. Finalists for thethree squads will be named following trials, with official12-member rosters determined prior to their respectivecompetitions.
Ohio State Athletics Schedule
May 8 – May 15
May 8
Baseball vs. Western Carolina, 6:35 p.m.
Columbus, Ohio
Bill Davis Stadium
May 9
Baseball vs. Western Carolina, 1:05 p.m.
Columbus, Ohio
Bill Davis Stadium
May 10
Softball Big Ten Championship
Northwestern vs. Michigan State, 5 p.m.
Columbus, Ohio
Buckeye Field
Softball Big Ten Championship
Ohio State vs. Penn State, 7 p.m.
Columbus, Ohio
Buckeye Field
Women’s Golf at NCAA Central Regional, All Day
Ann Arbor, Mich.
May 11
Baseball at Minnesota, 7:35 p.m.
Minneapolis, Minn.
Softball Big Ten Championship
Michigan vs. Illinois, Noon
Columbus, Ohio
Buckeye Field
Softball Big Ten Championship
Iowa vs. Purdue, 2:30 p.m.
Columbus, Ohio
Buckeye Field
Softball Big Ten Championship
TBA vs. TBA, 5 p.m.
Columbus, Ohio
Buckeye Field
Softball Big Ten Championship
TBA vs. TBA, 7:30 p.m.
Columbus, Ohio
Buckeye Field
Men’s Track at Big Ten Championships, All Day
State College, Pa.
Women’s Track at Big Ten Championships, All Day
State College, Pa.
Women’s Golf at NCAA Central Regional, All Day
Ann Arbor, Mich.
Men’s Tennis NCAA first and second rounds
Ohio State vs. Columbia, 1 p.m.
Columbus, Ohio
Stickney Tennis Center
Men’s Tennis NCAA first and second rounds
Miami vs. Tennessee, 4 p.m.
Columbus, Ohio
Stickney Tennis Center
May 12
Baseball at Minnesota, 3:05 p.m.
Minneapolis, Minn.
Baseball at Minnesota, 5:35 p.m.
Minneapolis, Minn.
Softball Big Ten Championship
TBA vs. TBA, 1 p.m.
Columbus, Ohio
Buckeye Field
Men’s Track at Big Ten Championships, All Day
State College, Pa.
Women’s Track at Big Ten Championships, All Day
State College, Pa.
Men’s Tennis NCAA first and second rounds
TBA vs. TBA, 1 p.m.
Columbus, Ohio
Stickney Tennis Center
Women’s Golf at NCAA Central Regional, All Day
Ann Arbor, Mich.
Rowing at Central/South Region Championships, All Day
Oak Ridge, Tenn.
May 13
Men’s Track at Big Ten Championships, All Day
State College, Pa.
Women’s Track at Big Ten Championships, All Day
State College, Pa.
Rowing at Central/South Region Championships, All Day
Oak Ridge, Tenn.
May 17
Men’s Golf at NCAA Championships, All Day
Aurora, Ill.
Men’s Tennis at NCAA Tournament, TBA
Athens, Ga.
