Athletics Good Stuff – Ohio State Buckeyes
6/30/2007 12:00:00 AM | General
Athletes of the Week Veronica Jatsek, a junior on the women’s track and field team, earned her second All-America honor in three months Saturday with a seventh-place finish in the hammer throw at the 2007 NCAA Outdoor Championships in Sacramento, Calif. Jatsek’s toss covered 206 feet, 2 inches. The Big Ten Champion in the hammer throw added to her seventh-place finish in the weight at the 2007 NCAA Indoor Championships.
Jatsek joins an elite group of Ohio State throwers who have taken All-America honors twice in one year. Keturah Lofton (2004) and Katy Craig (2002) captured two All-America honors in the same year as throwers. Jatsek ended her junior season at Ohio State with two All-Big honors, an All-Regional honor, a Big Ten title and two All-America honors.
Jessica Davenport of the women’s basketball team was named asone of two 2007 Ohio State Athletes of the Year by the Ohio Statedepartment of athletics. Davenport, who finished her career in 2007as the program’s first three-time All-American, also was named 2006Women’s Ohio State Athlete of the Year and is the first repeatwomen’s winner since Donica Merriman earned the honor for herperformance on the track and field team in 2000 and ’01.
Davenport, who graduated March 19 with a degree in family resource management/consumer affairs, became the first student-athlete to be named Big Ten player of the year three times in a career. The product of Columbus Independence High School led the Buckeyes to a 28-4 overall mark in 2006-07 and Ohio State’s third-consecutive league crown. She topped the conference in scoring at 20 points per game and ranked second in the league in rebounds per contest (9.6) and field goal percentage (.597/ 222-372).
The only player in Big Ten history to record 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 300 blocked shots in a career, Davenport posted a four-year total of 384 blocks and ended her Buckeye run as the league’s all-time leader. Davenport finished with 2,303 career points, which rates fifth all-time in Big Ten history and second at Ohio State. The Buckeyes went a combined 108-22 (.831) during her career, the best four-year span in team history.
Troy Smith of the football team was honored as one of two 2007Ohio State Athletes of the Year Wednesday by the Ohio Statedepartment of athletics. In his senior campaign, Smithquarterbacked the Buckeyes to the 2007 Bowl Championship SeriesNational Title game and was named Ohio State’s seventh HeismanTrophy winner. Smith is the third-consecutive football player toclaim the men’s award. Mike Nugent, a place kicker, was the winnerin 2005 and A.J. Hawk, a linebacker, received the honor last year.
A native of Cleveland, Smith captained the 2006 football team to a 12-0 regular season and a successful defense of its 2005 Big Ten Championship. The 2007 Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year established a Buckeye record with 30 touchdown passes last season. Smith capped his home career by becoming the first Ohio State quarterback to throw four TD passes vs. Michigan Nov. 18. The victory over the No. 2-ranked Wolverines (42-39), Smith’s third in a row vs. U-M, secured Ohio State’s 31st Big Ten title.
A graduate in 2006 with a degree in communications, Smith finished his career with a 25-3 record as the Buckeyes’ starting signal-caller. He passed for four touchdowns in four games last season and his total of 2,542 yards through the air in 2006 ranks fourth all-time at Ohio State.
Smith’s .653 completion percentage (203-311) in 2006 ranks first at Ohio State for a single season and his .627 career mark (420-670) rates No. 1 all-time. Smith’s total of 54 TD passes stands third for a career at Ohio State. The 2006 first-team All-American also netted 1,166 career rushing yards on 293 carries and accounted for 14 TDs on the ground.
Athletics Good Stuff
The Marketing Department was awarded three first-place 2007 BigTen Marketing Awards for Best Football or Men’s BasketballPromotion, Best Targeted Group Promotion and BestRevenue-Generating Idea. The Ohio State department placed in theTop 3 in six of seven categories to earn the recognition as the2007 Big Ten Marketing Staff of the Year for the second consecutiveyear. The department took second in Best Women’s BasketballPromotion, second in Best Television Ad and third in Best OlympicSport Promotion.
Veronica Jatsek, a junior on the women’s track and field team,earned her second All-America honor in three months Saturday with aseventh-place finish in the hammer throw at the 2007 NCAA OutdoorChampionships in Sacramento, Calif. Jatsek’s toss covered 206 feet,2 inches. The Big Ten Champion in the hammer throw added to herseventh-place finish in the weight at the 2007 NCAA IndoorChampionships.
Three former men’s track and field All-Americans competedSunday at the 2007 Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Ore. Dan Taylor(2000-04) competed for Nike and placed third in the shot put.Reebok runners Rob Myers (2000-04) and Brian Olinger (2003-06) hadseventh-place times in the mile and steeplechase, respectively.
Four baseball players were selected in the 2007 Major LeagueBaseball draft. Junior Cory Luebke, the 2007 Big Ten Pitcher of theYear, was taken in the supplemental first round (63rd overall) bythe San Diego Padres Thursday. Junior outfielder Matt Angle, juniorcatcher Eric Fryer and sophomore pitcher Jake Hale all wereselected Friday. Angle was taken in the seventh round (219thoverall) by the Baltimore Orioles, Fryer in the 10th round (311thoverall) by the Milwaukee Brewers and Hale in the 20th round (625thoverall) by the Toronto Blue Jays.
Men’s hockey rising sophomore goalie Joseph Palmer is one offive goaltenders among 45 players invited to attend the 2007 U.S.National Junior Evaluation Camp Aug. 3-11 in Lake Placid, N.Y.Participating players are candidates for the 2008 U.S. NationalJunior Team that will compete in the 2008 International Ice HockeyFederation (IIHF) World Junior (Under-20) Championship Dec. 26,2007-Jan. 5, 2008 in Pardubice and Liberec, Czech Republic. Theevaluation camp includes practices and eight internationalscrimmages with a split squad of American players facing offagainst Sweden and Finland. This is the second-consecutive yearPalmer, a fourth-round draft pick of the Chicago Blackhawks in2006, has been invited to the evaluation camp.
Wrestling assistant coaches Joe Heskett and Tommy Rowlandscontinued their 2008 Beijing Olympics bids after winning theirrespective weight classes at the 2007 U.S. Senior World Team TrialsSaturday and Sunday at the Las Vegas Convention Center in LasVegas. Heskett defeated Casey Cunningham, 2-1, in the best of threeseries at 74 kg/163 pounds and Rowlands outlasted Steve Mocco, 2-0,at 120 kg/264.5 pounds.
As members of the U.S. Senior World Team, Heskett and Rowlands will compete in the Pan American Games July 13-29 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and the 2007 World Wrestling Championships Sept. 17-23 in Baku, Azerbaijan.
The 19th-ranked women’s gymnastics team handed out seven teamawards and celebrated its 2007 season last Thursday in theBuckeyes’ annual postseason banquet. Junior Kaylan Clevinger tookhome the coveted “O”chievement Award and was named a 2008 OSUco-captain with junior Maalika Moore-Thomas, who will serve asco-captain for the second-consecutive season. Seniors BrittanyLivingston and Elizabeth Ahlberg were honored for their years inthe program, with Livingston earning the Best Attitude Award.Sophomore Alyssa Meyer (uh-LISS-uh) took home the Most DedicatedAward and the Academic Achievement Award, while sophomore AmandaSurine (sir-EEN) was named Most Improved and freshman KristinPerchatsch (per-HOTCH) earned the Coaches’ Award.
