No. 7 Buckeyes Host No. 2 Penn State Saturday – Ohio State Buckeyes
2/22/2012 12:00:00 AM | General, Men's Gymnastics
Feb. 22, 2012
‘; //–>
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The No. 7 Ohio State men’s gymnastics team hosts No. 2 Penn State at 4 p.m. Saturday at St. John Arena. The Buckeye women’s team also will be competing Saturday in a dual meet vs. the PSU women’s squad.
BTN NOTE
The tri-meet at Michigan Feb. 18 is set to air on BTN at 1 p.m. ET Feb. 25. BTN will be covering the 2012 Big Ten Men’s Gymnastics Championships April 6-7 in Iowa City, Iowa.
LIVE STATS
A link to live stats for the meet against Penn State Saturday can be found on the Ohio State men’s gymnastics schedule page on OhioStateBuckeyes.com.
PROMOTIONS
The Ohio State men’s gymnastics program will be recognizing its alumni during the first-touch warm-up Saturday and will also have a post-meet autograph session following the competition vs. the Nittany Lions.
BUCKEYES IN THE RANKINGS
As a team, Ohio State sits at No. 7 in the latest GymInfo National Rankings with a three-score average of 342.150. The Buckeyes are polled in the Top 10 in five of the six team event totals, including fourth place on floor exercise (58.967), sixth on vault (58.483), seventh on both high bar (56.700) and pommel horse (56.217) and ninth on rings (56.750).
Individually, five members are ranked in the Top 20 nationally in the event three-score average polls. Senior co-captain Ty Echard leads the way with a fourth-place ranking on pommel horse followed by freshman Danny Steiner who is seventh in the country on floor exercise (15.067), while sophomore Misha Koudinov is tied for 10th on the event (14.900). Freshman Larry Mayer is eighth on vault (14.867) and junior co-captain Blaize Monks is 12th on high bar (14.383).
LAST TIME OUT
After three weeks off competition, the Buckeyes placed second in a tri-meet at Michigan Feb. 17 with a 332.400 team total in Ann Arbor. The meet marked the first of four-consecutive weeks of competition for the Scarlet and Gray.
Freshman Danny Steiner led the Buckeyes, sharing the floor exercise tile with Sam Mikulak of Michigan with a 14.90. The native of Mesa, Arizona, Steiner also tied for fourth on vault with classmate Larry Mayer with a 14.70. Freshman Alex Nork notched the team’s highest score on pommel horse after scoring a 14.10 for second overall. On rings, senior Philip Onorato scored a 14.20 for fourth place, while sophomore Misha Koudinov claimed a 13.70 on parallel bars to tie for second. On high bar, freshman Drew Moling guided the team with a 14.20 for third overall.
LAST TIME AGAINST PENN STATE
The Buckeyes fell at Penn State, 353.000-342.500, last season in State College, Pa., despite posting several team-event season highs against the Nittany Lions. Ty Echard claimed the pommel horse title with a 15.40, while Jeff Treleaven notched a 14.50 to tie for third overall. Treleaven then posted a 15.80 vault score to tie for first overall, while Philip Onorato collected a 15.50. Kris Done led the Scarlet and Gray on high bar with a 14.40, while Misha Koudinov claimed a 14.50 on parallel bars for third place.
WYNN SELECTED TO U.S. NATIONAL TEAM
Current volunteer assistant coach and former Buckeye Buckeye Brandon Wynn (2008-11), a two-time NCAA rings champion, was selected to the U.S. Senior Men’s National Team following his performance in the finals at the 2012 Winter Cup Challenge. This is the fourth-consecutive U.S. Senior National Team for the former Buckeye All-American. The two-time defending U.S. rings champion, Wynn notched a 175.000 two-day all-around total, including an 88.000 in the finals for third overall at the elite national event. On rings Wynn won the national title with a 30.950 two-day total, with a meet-high of 15.60 in the finals. In addition to his rings victory Wynn was able to place in the Top 10 with a third-place finish on parallel bars (29.70) and two eighth-place finishes on vault (31.450) and high bar (28.70).
WINTER CUP CHALLENGE
The Scarlet and Gray had a strong performance at the Winter Cup Challenge with one current and two former members of the Ohio State gymnastics team qualifying for finals. Current Buckeye senior co-captain Ty Echard finished third overall on pommel horse with a 30.250 two-day total. The OSU co-captain posted the second-highest score in the finals on pommel horse with a 15.500 Former Buckeye Tai Lee had three Top 20 finishes on rings (27.600), high bar (27.100) and vault (30.450). Former Buckeye and two-time NCAA rings champion Brandon Wynn who won the rings competition and had three Top ten finishes and was selected for the U.S. Senior National Team. Former Buckeye Sean Regan also performed at the competition in the preliminary round.
LOSS TO OKLAHOMA
Despite posting season highs on floor exercise (60.30), rings (57.75), parallel bars (56.40) and high bar (58.00) the Buckeyes fell to then-No. 3 Oklahoma, 353.150-347.750, Jan. 21 at St. John Arena. On pommel horse, senior co-captain Ty Echard posted a 15.05 to win the competition. Freshman Larry Mayer tied for first on vault with Oklahoma’s Jacob Dalton with a score of 15.0.
WINDY CITY CHAMPS
The Buckeyes began the 2012 campaign with great success, winning the Windy City Invitational Jan. 15 in Chicago, Ill., with a team total score of 344.500. The Buckeyes, which included five freshmen making their collegiate debuts, won the pommel horse (59.700) and vault (58.600) events en route to their first Windy City title since the 2006 season. The team claimed 13 Top 10 finishes including a first-place victory for senior Philip Onorato on vault with a 15.10. Sophomore Brandän Jones set career highs on both floor exercise (14.7) and pommel horse (13.8). Sophomore Misha Koudinov rang in a career-high 15.1 on floor, while redshirt sophomore Michael Newburger earned a career best on pommel horse with a 14.4.
UP NEXT
The Buckeyes will continue their Big Ten schedule, traveling to Illinois for a dual meet at 7 p.m. March 2.
