Athletics Good Stuff – Ohio State Buckeyes
5/20/2008 12:00:00 AM | General
Athletes of the Week
David Ebersole, a senior on the men’s track and field team, won his first Big Ten title in the hammer throw May 16 at the 2008 Big Ten Championships in Champaign, Ill. Ebersole, a former walk-on, set a season-best mark with his toss of 211 feet, 8 inches, edging Benn Harpenau of Purdue, who held the Big Ten’s best hammer toss coming into the meet. Ebersole bested Harpenau and the rest of the field by 3 feet, 6 inches. The toss ranks in as the ninth-best toss in the Mideast Region and third-best in Ohio State history. The toss also bested the Illinois Soccer and Track and Field stadium record.
Veronica Jatsek, a senior on the women’s track and field team, dominated the field in the hammer throw to win her second-consecutive Big Ten title May 16 at the 2008 Big Ten Championships Friday in Champaign, Ill. Jatsek won the title with a toss of 203 feet, 6 inches, besting the field by 20 feet, 4 inches. The Walton Hills, Ohio, native now owns three-career Big Ten titles and is looking for her fourth All-American honor. Jatsek currently holds the 15th-best toss in the country this season and the third-best toss in the Mideast region.
Athletics Good Stuff
Baseball (30-24; 15-15 Big Ten)
Head Coach: Bob Todd
After defeating Iowa, 9-7, in the final game of a four-game series May 15-17 in Iowa City, Iowa, Ohio State extended its season as it qualified for the 2008 Big Ten Tournament. The Buckeyes are making their 12th-consecutive conference tournament appearance, a conference-record streak, and they are competing in the tournament for the 20th time under the direction of head coach Bob Todd.
The Scarlet and Gray split its series with the Hawkeyes, winning games 2 and 4. In the game four win, J.B. Shuck scattered five hits and allowed only two earned runs in another solid pitching performance for the junior from Galion, Ohio. He went 7.0 innings and struck out nine batters, walked only one and improved his overall mark to 5-3 on the season. The win was his 17th career victory, which moves him into a tie for 25th place all-time at Ohio State. Offensively, Justin Miller had three hits and two runs scored. Cory Rupert had a pair of doubles and two RBI. Michael Arp had two hits, including a double, with two runs and two RBI and Tyler Engle had a double and a triple to lead the Buckeye bats.
Ohio State downed Iowa, 12-2, in the second game of the series. Dan DeLucia went 5.0 innings and allowed seven hits and the two earned runs. He struck out two and walked two and improved his record to 3-3 on the season and 24-13 for his Ohio State career. Rupert paced the Buckeyes as he was 3-for-3 at the plate and scored three runs. He also had an RBI to his credit.
In nonconference action earlier in the week, after Buffalo put nine runs on the board in the fourth inning to build an 11-0 lead, Ohio State scored nine runs over the final three innings to beat the Bulls, 14-13, May 13 at Bill Davis Stadium. The Buckeyes started to mount their comeback in the fourth when Ryan Dew hit a two-run homerun to right center. Shuck had a two-run triple in the fifth that helped cut the deficit to 13-5.
Eric Best pitched a scoreless ninth to earn the victory, improving to 4-1. Miller led the Buckeyes with three hits and five RBI. Shuck and Cory Kovanda each scored four runs for Ohio State.
Up Next: at the Big Ten Tournament (vs. Illinois), 12:05 p.m. May 21 in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Men’s Golf
Head Coach: Jim Brown
Ohio State concluded its season May 17 by tying for 16th at the 2008 NCAA Central Regional. The Buckeyes closed out the tournament with a team score of 309 (+25) during the final round on the par 71, 7,419-yard Scarlet Course in Columbus. Ohio State finished the 54-hole event 10 strokes outside the Top 10, which advanced to the NCAA championships.
Junior Vaughn Snyder, from Massillon, Ohio, carded a final round of 79 to finish tied for 20th at 11-over 224. Marbella, Spain, native Patrick Simard finished tied for 52nd at 14-over 227. The sophomore shot a 78 with four birdies in the round. Bo Hoag, a freshman from Upper Arlington, Ohio, and senior co-captain Kyle Coconis, from Zanesville, Ohio, both totaled 230 to tie for 75th. Hoag closed out with a 77, while Coconis had the low round of the day for the Buckeyes, shooting a 4-over 75. Also competing for Ohio State was freshman Brad Smith who shot an 80 and finished tied for 136th.
No. 9/13 Men’s Lacrosse (11-6; 4-1 GWLL)
Head Coach: Joe Breschi
Ohio State was eliminated from the 2008 NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Championship after a 21-10 loss to top-seed Duke in the quarterfinals at Schoellkopff Field in Ithaca, N.Y., May 18. The Buckeyes were making their first appearance in the round of 8.
Against Duke, three Buckeyes senior Kevin Buchanan, junior Peet Poillon and sophomore Mario Ventiquattro each contributed four points on two goals and two assists. Junior Joel Dalgarno had two points on a goal and an assist.
The contest was the final game for 11 Buckeye seniors in the Scarlet and Gray Mat Ballay, Charlie Billingsley, Buchanan, Matt Cornell, Bill Curry, Chris Friel, Josh Funk, Steve McKinlay, Ricky Pages, Peter Schell and Stefan Schroder.
Buchanan ended the year as the team’s leader in points with 76, one ahead of Dalgarno with 75. Buchanan’s 76 points are the fourth-best mark in a single season for a Buckeye, while Dalgarno’s 75 rank fifth in the record books. Buchanan had a team-best 44 goals, tying for sixth in a single season. Dalgarno’s team-high 35 assists are the fourth-most for a Buckeye in a single campaign. Dalgarno had 40 goals to rank ninth, with Buchanan’s 32 helpers tying for seventh.
Rowing
Head Coach: Andy Teitelbaum
Ohio State finished second in the Central Region and third overall in the 2008 Central/South Region Sprints May 18 at Melton Hill Lake in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
After the Buckeyes advanced four of five boats to the Grand Final on the first day of competition, the Second Varsity Eight came away as champions in its respective race, clocking in at a time of 6:39.20, outdistancing runner-up Virginia by almost three seconds (6:42.10).
Racing in the Petite Final, the First Varsity Eight won that heat (6:46.90) to finish seventh overall, beating out Notre Dame (6:47.70). The Second Varsity Four and First Varsity Four finished second and third, respectively, in their Grand Final races.
The Scarlet and Gray now will look to earn a team selection to the 2008 NCAA Championships, hosted by Cal Berkeley in Sacramento, Calif., May 30-June 1. A webcast of the selection show is at 4 p.m. May 20 on ncaasports.com.
No. 2 Men’s Tennis (35-2; 10-0 Big Ten)
Head Coach: Ty Tucker
The No. 2 seed in the 2008 NCAA Men’s Tennis Championship, Ohio State’s season came to an end after dropping a 4-2 decision to No. 7 Texas in the quarterfinal round May 18 at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, Okla.
The Buckeyes won an exciting match in the round of 16 May 16 when they defeated No. 15 and conference rival Illinois, 4-3. After dropping the doubles point, the Scarlet and Gray rallied for the victory. Sophomore Justin Kronauge won a dramatic third-set tiebreaker at No. 3 singles to push the Buckeyes ahead of the Illini.
Brian Koniecko, Steven Moneke and Kronauge will compete in the NCAA singles championship beginning May 21 at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center in Tulsa. Koniecko and Moneke, along with Drew Eberly and Kronauge will compete in the NCAA doubles championship as well.
Men’s Track and Field
Head Coach: Robert Gary
Ohio State completed action at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships in Champaign Ill., May 18 in third place with 100 points. This marks only the second time in Ohio State history the men’s cross country and indoor and outdoor track and field teams have finished in the Top 3 at their respective championships. The last time the Buckeyes accomplished the feat was 1941.
Senior David Ebersole won his first-career Big Ten title in the hammer throw May 16 in Champaign, Ill. Ebersole set a season-best mark with his toss of 211 feet, 8 inches, edging Benn Harpenau of Purdue, who held the Big Ten’s best hammer toss coming into the meet. Ebersole bested Harpenau and the rest of the field by 3 feet, 6 inches. The toss is 21st in the nation, the ninth-best toss in the Mideast Region and third-best in Ohio State history. The toss also bested the Illinois Soccer and Track and Field stadium record.
The Buckeyes went on to sweep the top two spots in the javelin. Freshman Bryan Bunnell made his case for Big Ten Freshman of the Year, dominating the event with a winning toss of 219 feet, 1 inch. Patrick Filipi finished second with a toss of 216-11. The two Buckeyes bested the field by 6 feet, 3 inches.
Up Next: at NCAA Regional Championships, All Day May 30-31 in Fayetteville, Ark.
Women’s Track and Field
Head Coach: Karen Dennis
Ohio State closed action at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships in Champaign, Ill., May 18 in fifth place with 74 points. Senior Veronica Jatsek dominated the field in the hammer throw to win her second-consecutive Big Ten title May 16 in Champaign, Ill. Jatsek won the title with a toss of 203 feet, 6 inches — besting the field by 20 feet, 4 inches. Jatsek now owns three Big Ten titles for her career and is looking for her fourth All-America honor. Jatsek currently has the 15th-best toss in the country this season and the third-best toss in the Mideast region.
The 4×100-meter relay team of Bever-Leigh Holloway, Ayrizanna Favours, Letecia Wright and Jenna Griffin claimed the Big Ten title with the second-best time in Ohio State history with a mark of 44.63. This ends a big week for the team that set the school record May 17 in the prelims with a season-best time of 44.51.
Griffin and Favours made their presence felt in the 200-meter dash final. Griffin took second in a regional qualifying time of 23.50. Favours was third with a time of 23.63.
Wright returned later in the day to finish third in the 100-meter hurdles final with a time of 13.45. Wright was the top freshman in the field and the only freshman to qualify for the final. The 4×400-meter of Chandra Krempel, Ashley Caldwell, Griffin and Favours finished second with a regional qualifying time of 3:37.34.
Up Next: at NCAA Regional Championships, All Day May 30-31 in Fayetteville, Ark.
Ohio State Athletics Schedule
May 21-26
May 21
Baseball at Big Ten Tournament (vs. Illinois), 12:05 p.m.
Ann Arbor, Mich.
May 21-26
Men’s tennis at NCAA Men’s Tennis Singles and Doubles Championships, TBA
Tulsa, Okla.
