Avery Guides Three Gymnasts to Winter Cup Finals – Ohio State Buckeyes
2/8/2008 12:00:00 AM | General, Men's Gymnastics
Ohio State’s Jake Bateman, former-Buckeye Blaine Wilson and Paul Hamm advance
COLUMBUS, Ohio After finishing 17th in the all-around Thursday night, Ohio State men’s gymnastics junior captain Jake Bateman advanced to USA Gymnastics 2008 Winter Cup Challenge finals at 7:15 p.m. (PST) Saturday at the Las Vegas Sports Center. Blaine Wilson, a three-time Olympian and former Buckeye (1994-97), as well as 2004 Olympic all-around champion Paul Hamm also moved on to the finals. Both athletes are coached by Ohio State head coach Miles Avery. All three athletes will start the second night of competition on pommel horse.
Hamm led the field finishing first with an all-around score of 92.8, more than three points above second place, held by former-Buckeye Raj Bhavsar (2000-03) with an 89.0. He topped the competition on floor with a 16.0, finished second on vault (16.3), parallel bars (15.25) and high bar (15.35), third on rings (15.55) and tied for sixth on pommel horse (14.35). Wilson, who competed on four events, recorded three Top 10 finishes. Those came on rings (sixth/15.15), vault (fourth/16.2) and high bar (t-seventh/14.6).
Ohio State’s Bateman finished the qualifier with an 82.45 for 17th overall, which was the eighth-best all-around score among his collegiate competitors. Junior Eddie Hay competed on four events, earning his best result on high bar with a 13.75 to tie Buckeye freshman Sean Regan for 24th. Regan finished the all-around in 28th.
Other former Buckeyes in action at the national event included Kerry Adderly (2002-04) and Grant Osborne (2004-07). OSU signees Alexy Bilozertchev and Philip Onorato also competed at the meet. Coached by his father,Dmitri Bilozertchev, an Ohio State assistant coach, Alexy tied for fifth on floor with a 14.85.
After the finals Saturday, seven gymnasts will be named to the senior national team. At the conclusion of the Winter Cup, four athletes will be named to the team based on the outcome of the national team points system rank order. The remaining three will be selected from Winter Cup Challenge participants and petitioned athletes by the U.S. Men’s Program Committee.
In addition, the seven members of the 2007 World Championships Team, which finished fourth at the world competition, automatically retain their national team status. Together, the 14 gymnasts will makeup the U.S. team until the 2008 Visa Championships in May.
