Buckeyes Got Talent – Ohio State Buckeyes
5/1/2008 12:00:00 AM | General
Event: Buckeyes Got Talent
Organization: Ohio State Student-Athlete Advisory Board
Event Date & Time: 7 p.m. May 14, 2008
Event Location: St. John Arena
Cost: $5 adults; $3 students proceeds go to the Boys & Girls Club of Columbus
Website: www.OhioStateBuckeyes.com
COLUMBUS, Ohio Buckeyes Got Talent is back. After its successful first run in 2007, the Ohio State student-athlete talent show is back for its second edition. Buckeyes Got Talent, which is organized by the Ohio State Student-Athlete Advisory Board (SAAB), takes place at 7 p.m. May 14 in St. John Arena. Doors open at 6 p.m. for an autograph session with the Buckeye student-athletes that will last until 6:45 p.m., allowing the contestants time to prepare for the main event.
General admission tickets for the event can be purchased at the door for $5 with Ohio State student tickets discounted to $3 and no charge for children ages 6 and under. All proceeds from the Ohio State student-athlete talent show will be donated to the Boys & Girls Club of Columbus. SAAB looks to better its $1,300 donation collected for the organization at the event in 2007.
Chairing the event this year is women’s volleyball standout Danielle Meyer, a three-time All-Big Ten selection and ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America first-team selection.
“Buckeyes Got Talent is a way for us to give back to the Ohio State community that supports us so greatly through our athletic endeavors all year long,” Meyer, a Cincinnati native, said. “We’re all student-athletes for this prominent athletic department because of our competitive natures, so it’s a blast for us to channel that competitiveness against other teams in an event which is both entertaining and charitable.”
Last year, the bar was set with a collection of dances from the wrestling and men’s lacrosse team and a barber shop quartet performance by the men’s cross country team, the competition’s Top 3 acts. This year, the 10 Buckeye varsity teams competing May 14 in St. John Arena have their work cut out as they vie for the 2008 title.
Returning to the 2008 competition is the wrestling team who won the inaugural competition with a modern West Side Story Jets vs. Sharks’ dance-off of sorts. Soon after the performance, news of the team’s unexpected talent drew attention from local media, prompting an encore performance on a local network newscast last spring.
The men’s lacrosse team, runner-up at the event in 2007 with a Riverdance rendition, looks to challenge the defending champions but remain tight-lipped about what their exact plans are.
“Its confidential information,” Charlie Billingsley, the men’s lacrosse talent show representative, said. “It is going to be good though. We’re hoping to attract a lot of fans to the talent show this year because people know to expect a fun time after last year.”
The 10 teams performing at Buckeyes Got Talent at 7 p.m. May 14 include: men’s cross country, football, men’s and women’s lacrosse, rowing, men’s and women’s soccer, women’s swimming and diving, synchronized swimming, men’s track and field and wrestling.
