Athletics Good Stuff – Ohio State Buckeyes
8/23/2007 12:00:00 AM | General
Athletes of the Week
Lisa Chesson, a senior defenseman on the women’s hockey team, has been named to the U.S. Women’s Under-22 Select Team, USA Hockey announced Wednesday. The team was selected upon the conclusion of the 2007 USA Hockey Women’s National Festival Tuesday evening in Lake Placid, N.Y. Along with Chesson, the 22-player roster includes six members of the silver medal-winning 2007 U.S. Women’s National Team.
She is one of seven defensemen named to the team and is among the 12 players from teams in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. Chesson, a native of Plainfield, Ill., earned Third Team All-WCHA honors for the second-consecutive season in 2006-07 and completed the year as one of the top offensive defensemen in the nation. She ranked sixth in defenseman scoring in the nation with an average of 1.0 points per game and totaled 37 points (13g, 24a) to finish 12th in overall scoring in the WCHA.
DJ Bucher, a senior on the men’s gymnastics team, proved himself at USA Gymnastics’ 2007 VISA Championships Aug. 17 in San Jose, Calif., placing eighth on rings and 12th on pommel horse. This year, the Mason, Ohio, native sets out to train in hopes of qualifying for the 2008 Olympic Trials. At Ohio State, Bucher has collected six All-America nods, including a program-high three as a freshman in 2005.
Athletics Good Stuff
Junior linebacker James Laurinaitis was named one of 35 “players to watch” for the 2007 Walter Camp Player of the Year honor presented annually by the Walter Camp Football Foundation. Last year, Ohio State’s Troy Smith took home the accolade.
The 13th-ranked field hockey team opens its 2007 season by playing host to the Buckeye Invitational, Aug. 25-26 at North Turf Field. The Buckeyes open the event against Delaware at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, followed by a game between Kent State and Bucknell at 2:30 p.m. Delaware then takes on Kent State at 11:30 a.m. Sunday and Ohio State concludes the event against Bucknell at 2:30 p.m.
Ohio State, in the 12th season under the direction of head coach Anne Wilkinson, is No. 13 in the STX/NFHCA Preseason Poll released Tuesday by the National Field Hockey Coaches Association. The Buckeyes are one of six Big Ten teams ranked in the poll. Penn State is seventh, followed by No. 10 Iowa, No. 12 Michigan, No. 15 Indiana and No. 19 Michigan State. Along with those teams, OSU has top-ranked and two-time defending NCAA champion Maryland, No. 14 Louisville and No. 16 American University on the slate for the upcoming season.
Women’s volleyball opens the season Friday at the Nike/Active Ankle Classic in Muncie, Ind. The Buckeyes face Southeast Missouri Friday at 5 p.m., Maine Saturday at 10 a.m. and host Ball State at 7:30 p.m.
Ohio State is ranked 16th nationally in the CSTV/AVCA Division I Coaches Top 25 Preseason Poll and was tabbed to finish fourth in the Big Ten by a vote of the conference coaches. OSU middle blocker Danielle Meyer was one of three unanimous selections named to the 2007 Preseason All-Big Ten Volleyball Team.
The men’s soccer team opened preseason camp last Tuesday and played to a 2-2 tie at defending Missouri Valley Conference champion Creighton Saturday night in exhibition action. The Buckeyes host Rutgers at 7:30 p.m. Friday in their final tune-up of the preseason before hosting the Bert and Iris Wolstein Classic Aug. 31-Sept. 2 in Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.
Junior midfielder Geoff Marsh played all 90 minutes and put the men’s soccer team ahead, 2-1, with a second-half goal in an exhibition match at No. 21 Creighton last Saturday night in Omaha, Neb. Marsh, one of Ohio State’s seven returning starters, scored in the 82nd minute in an eventual 2-2 tie with a 25-yard blast into the lower left corner.
The women’s soccer team, under the direction of 11th-year head coach Lori Walker, dropped a 3-0 decision to No. 22 Wake Forest in an exhibition match Tuesday evening at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. Ohio State played without several key individuals. Standout Lara Dickenmann is with the Swiss National Team preparing to play a European Championship qualifier match against Germany on Wednesday. Junior Lisa Collison, a member of the Canadian National Team, sat out to rest a minor ailment.
Bryan Koniecko, a junior-to-be on the men’s tennis team was awarded an U.S. Open Qualifying Wild Card the United States Tennis Association announced. Koniecko is one of nine players hoping to earn their way into the 2007 U.S. Open brackets. The qualifying tournament is Aug. 21-24 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y., also the home of the U.S. Open, one of four tennis Grand Slams, held Aug. 27-Sept. 9.
Dominic Ozanne had a memorable showing at the 2007 Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Summer Championships presented by the USTA at the Indiana University Varsity Tennis Center in Bloomington, Ind., Aug. 11-15. Ozanne upset some of the top collegiate men’s tennis players in the event, including No. 1 seed Dominic Inglot of Virginia, en route to advancing to the quarterfinals of the ITA championship.
DJ Bucher, a senior on the men’s gymnastics team, finished the 2007 VISA Championships eighth on rings (30.15), 12th on pommel horse (28.2) and 21st on parallel bars (28.5) Aug. 17 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif. Also, Buckeye freshman-to-be Sean Regan was named to the 2007-08 U.S. Men’s Junior National team at the conclusion of the USA Gymnastics’ event. In the preliminary round on the senior’s division, the Libertyville, Ill., native finished the all-around with a score of 82.85, the 18th-highest mark of the night.
Paul Hamm, who trains with Ohio State head coach Miles Avery, won the U.S. National floor title with a two-day total of 31.3 and nabbed fourth on pommel horse (29.35). Hamm’s twin brother Morgan, who also is coached by Avery, finished tied for ninth (28.55) on pommel horse.
Former Buckeye Raj Bhavsar finished 29th in the all-around, including a seventh-place finish on rings (30.2) and 13th on pommel horse (28.15). Bhavsar was named to the U.S. Men’s Senior National Team Feb. 21 following the 2007 Winter Cup Challenge.
The women’s gymnastics team was honored by the National Association of Collegiate Gymnastics Coaches last week for its academic achievement. The team was honored for having a team grade point average of 3.23, while five gymnasts were recognized for having GPAs over 3.5, including junior Alyssa Meyer who owns a 4.0.
Former member of the men’s lacrosse team Greg Bice was named the 2007 New Balance Major League Lacrosse Sportsman of the Year by Major League Lacrosse Aug. 17. Currently a member of the Los Angeles Riptide, the Western Conference champion, Bice has organized after-work athletic and wellness programs at Progress Energy, a company in North Carolina where he is currently employed. In addition, he coaches youth lacrosse in the community and will be moving to Honduras with his wife, Emily, to teach science and math at an orphanage for a year.
Former Buckeye Katie Smith (1993-96) became the first women’s professional basketball player to surpass 6,000 career points Thursday. Now in her second season with the defending WNBA champion Detroit Shock, Smith poured in 10 points vs. Minnesota Lynx and current Buckeyes assistant coach Tamika Raymond. The Lynx defeated the Shock, 87-77.
Ohio State Athletics Schedule
Aug. 21
Women’s soccer vs. Wake Forest, 7:30 p.m.
Columbus, Ohio
Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium
Aug. 24
Men’s soccer vs. Rutgers (exhibition), 7:30 p.m.
Columbus, Ohio
Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium
Women’s volleyball vs. Southeast Missouri State, 5 p.m.
Muncie, Ind.
Aug. 25
Buckeye Invitational
Field hockey vs. Delaware, 11:30 a.m.
Columbus, Ohio
North Turf Field
Buckeye Invitational
Kent State vs. Bucknell, 2:30 p.m.
Columbus, Ohio
North Turf Field
Women’s volleyball vs. Maine, 10 a.m.
Muncie, Ind.
Women’s volleyball at Ball State, 7:30 p.m.
Muncie, Ind.
Aug. 26
Buckeye Invitational
Delaware vs. Kent State, 11:30 a.m.
Columbus, Ohio
North Turf Field
Buckeye Invitational
Field hockey vs. Bucknell, 2:30 p.m.
Columbus, Ohio
North Turf Field
