Season Home Opener Pits No. 8 Ohio State vs. No. 6 Illinois – Ohio State Buckeyes
1/23/2008 12:00:00 AM | General, Men's Gymnastics
Buckeyes jump back in action after bye week with a co-ed dual
COLUMBUS, Ohio Returning to action after a week-long break from competition, the eighth-ranked Ohio State men’s gymnastics team (3-3; 2-2 Big Ten) opens its home schedule with a conference dual vs. No. 6 Illinois (5-2; 4-1 Big Ten) at 7 p.m. Saturday in historic St. John Arena. The meet, a co-ed with the No. 18 Ohio State women’s team and N.C. State, will be OSU Student Night. All Ohio State students will receive free admission with a valid BuckID.
“We’re excited as ever to open the season at home against such a strong opponent,” Miles Avery, Ohio State men’s gymnastics head coach, said. “I expect the competition to be close but this team really wants to get the win this weekend on their home floor. Illinois lost a close dual last weekend against an up-and-coming Minnesota team so we know they will be coming out strong, also looking for a win.”
GET IT HERE FIRST
Follow live scoring of the co-ed meet Saturday, which can be accessed from the men’s gymnastics schedule page online at OhioStateBuckeyes.com.
LAST TIME OUT: IN THE WINDY CITY
In its 29th appearance at the Windy City Invitational, then fourth-ranked Ohio State opened its 2008 campaign, finishing fourth with a score of 341.2 Jan. 12 in Chicago. Then-No. 1 Stanford claimed the meet’s title with a team total of 354.45 while Illinois, previously ranked eighth, finished in second with 347.35 and then-No. 7 Michigan rounded out the Top 3 with 344.45 points.
Top finishers for the Buckeyes included defending Big Ten floor champion Eddie Hay with a 15.3 good for third on the event and only .15 shy of the meet’s top score. Tony Duong, senior pommel horse specialist, nabbed the highest score for a Buckeye on the event with a 14.25 for seventh and was followed by six-time All-American and tri-captain DJ Bucher who tied for 10th with a 13.85.
Jimmy Wickham led the Buckeyes on vault, finishing fourth with a score of 15.95. Ohio State earned two Top 10 finishes on parallel bars from captains Bucher and Jake Bateman. Tying for fifth with a 14.45 was Bucher while Bateman finished in seventh with 14.35. The team’s best event of the evening was high bar as they finished with the meet’s third-highest score, tallying 56.2 points. Hay spearheaded the effort tying Jonathan Buese of Iowa for fifth with a 14.35. Following Hay was classmate Bateman tied for eighth with a 14.2 and rookieBrandon Wynn wrapped up the field’s Top 10 on the apparatus, scoring a 14.15 for the 10th spot.
In the all-around, Bateman (82.2) and Wynn (81.6) finished sixth and seventh, respectively.
VS. ILLINOIS
Although the Fighting Illini lead the all-time series record, 91-76-2, Ohio State has shown it knows how to defeat the conference foe in recent history, holding a 9-2-1 ledger starting with a 231.75-228.925 victory at Champaign March 8, 1997.
In 2007, the No. 4-ranked Buckeyes dropped the fifth-ranked Illini, 214.7-211.05, Jan. 27 at Huff Hall in Champaign, Ill. Ohio State won four events and had first-place finishes on all events but vault. Then-junior DJ Bucher returned to the Buckeye lineup and nabbed first place on pommel horse, rings and parallel bars en route to his first of two Big Ten Gymnast of the Week honors.
OHIO STATE IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
Entering the third week of the regular season, Ohio State holds eighth in the GymInfo national rankings with a team total season average of 341.2 after only competing at the Windy City Invite Jan. 12. Penn State moves to the front of the pack with an average of 356.4. Michigan holds second with a 350.7 while preseason No.1-ranked Stanford trails the Wolverines in third with an average team total of 350.6.
The Buckeyes hold Top 10 team averages on five of the six events, including a team-best sixth on floor (58.75) and high bar (56.2). The team’s only apparatus to not make the country’s Top 10 cut parallel bars ranks 11th with a 54.4, only .05 shy of tying Nebraska for 10th.
BUCKEYES IN THE TOP 20
Three Ohio State gymnasts hold Top 7 individual event scores in the national rankings while three more hold marks that stand in the Top 20. Leading the way for the Buckeyes are seniors DJ Bucher, Jimmy Wickham and junior Eddie Hay. Bucher holds seventh on rings with a score of 14.9, while Wickham and Hay hold fifth on vault (15.95) and floor (15.3), respectively. Wickham’s tally on floor of 14.85 ties him for 15th in the GymInfo rankings and Hay’s 14.35 on high bar ties him for 14th. Bucher appeared in the national rankings a second time as well holding 18th on parallel bars (14.45).
Tony Duong, the Buckeyes’ specialist on pommel horse, is the only gymnast to represent Ohio State in the Top 20 on the apparatus sitting in the 11th spot with a 14.25. Also in the individual rankings are all-aroundersJake Bateman andBrandon Wynn. Junior tri-captain Bateman is 17th with an 82.2 while freshman Wynn follows in 19th with an 81.6.
CONFERENCE STANDINGS
Defending national champion Penn State leads both the Big Ten Conference and national rankings with a season average of 356.4 points. In second is Michigan (350.7) and rounding out the league’s top half is Illinois with an average of 345.6. With a team total average of 342.375, Minnesota is currently fourth in the Big Ten and seventh in the national standings, just ahead of Ohio State in fifth (341.2. Iowa, ranked 13th in the nation and sixth in the conference, holds an average of 331.75.
A GLANCE AT 2008
With a decade of experience as head coach of the Ohio State men’s gymnastics program, Miles Avery enters his 11th season with a field of veteran gymnasts. Yet the Buckeyes have significant gaps to fill with the loss of four seniors from the 2007 Big Ten Champion squad. Avery will rely heavily on his five seniors to lead the 2008 team as Ohio State looks to defend its run of three-consecutive conference crowns.
Consistently one of the nation’s top gymnastics program, Ohio State boasts the return of two Big Ten event champions and three All-Americans under the direction of a decorated coaching staff, including Avery, named 2007 Big Ten and Central Region Coach of the Year, and his assistants Doug Stibel, 2007 Central Region Assistant Coach of the Year, and Dmitri Bilozertchev, two-time world champion.
On the competition floor, the team will count on its three All-America seniors to carry on the program’s tradition of excellence in 2008. In all, DJ Bucher, Pejman Ebrahimi and Jimmy Wickham have combined to garner a total of nine national laurels in their first three seasons, including Ebrahimi’s national vault title in 2007. Also returning for Ohio State are juniorsJake Bateman, 2006 Big Ten Freshman of the Year, and Eddie Hay, reigning conference champion on floor.
A STELLAR SENIOR CLASS AT OHIO STATE
Entering its final season, the Buckeye senior class has accomplished much in three years. Garnering their first conference rings as freshmen, All-Americans DJ Bucher,Pejman Ebrahimi and Jimmy Wickham, along with classmates Tony Duong and David Ortiz, have contributed key routines en route to recording three-consecutive Big Ten title wins, the program’s longest such run to date. Coming in as one of Avery’s largest classes, the veteran gymnasts have been the backbone of the Ohio State effort. In each of the three title winning championships, the 2008 senior class has combined to score five or more Top 3 Buckeye finishes.
ON THE ILLINI
Yoshi Hayasaki, in his 31st year as the Illini head coach, brings a balanced mix of experienced veterans and skilled freshmen as Illinois looks to continue its five-year streak of finishing in the nation’s Top 5. The senior class, which owns a collective 11 All-America nods, is led by 2007 Big Ten Gymnast of the Year Wes Haagensen with six national laurels. Classmates Ross Bradley, who is returning from injury, Jon Drollinger, Chris Silcox and Tyler Yamauchi, 2007 Big Ten vault champion, will be in charge of leading the Illini’s rookies this season.
Although the Illini outscored Minnesota on four of six events, Illinois dropped a conference dual to the Golden Gophers, 344.4-343.85, at home in Huff Hall last weekend. Freshman Paul Ruggeri took the all-around with a team-best 85.45 behind a first-place finish on floor (14.9) and runner-up finishes on both vault (15.65) and high bar (14.4).
UP NEXT
Ohio State hits the road for a tri-meet against Navy and meet host Temple at 7 p.m. Feb. 2 in Philadelphia. Last year, the Buckeyes soundly defeated the Owls, 216.35-198.55, in St. John Arena. The last time Ohio State faced Navy in a tri-meet or dual competition was March 10, 1990 as the Buckeyes dealt the Midshipmen a 282.75-269.4 loss in Columbus.
The trip to Philadelphia will serve as a homecoming for Ohio State head coach Miles Avery as he faces off against his former coach and Temple head coach Fred Turnoff in his hometown.
