Jake Bateman Earns First-Career Big Ten Gymnast of the Week Nod – Ohio State Buckeyes
1/30/2008 12:00:00 AM | General, Men's Gymnastics
Junior captain receives weekly conference honor after winning all-around
COLUMBUS, Ohio Jake Bateman, a junior on the Ohio State men’s gymnastics team, was named Big Ten Gymnast of the Week, the conference office announced Wednesday. En route to his first all-around victory as a Buckeye, the tri-captain notched four Top 5 finishes at home in St. John Arena vs. Illinois last Saturday. Winning with 89.1 points, Bateman beat out Illinois’ Wesley Haagensen, the 2007 Big Ten Gymnast of the Year, who scored an 88.5 at the league dual. The 89.1 was not only the best mark of the evening in Columbus, but also topped all Big Ten all-around scores recorded this past weekend.
At the dual, Bateman notched his first event win of the season, capturing parallel bars with a 15.3 while finishing second on rings (15.15), tying for third on pommel horse (14.05) and fourth on floor (15.05). On vault, the 2006 conference rookie of the year was just shy of tying Illinois’ Tyler Yamauchi, the reigning Big Ten vault champion, for fifth scoring a 15.6 on vault, just .05 shy of the Illini’s mark.
With his first-career Big Ten Gymnast of the Week award, the native of Kingsport, Tenn., becomes the first Buckeye to win the honor since senior tri-captainDJ Bucher did so March 21, 2007.
