No. 5 Buckeyes Travel to No. 3 Illinois Friday – Ohio State Buckeyes
2/28/2012 12:00:00 AM | General, Men's Gymnastics
Feb. 28, 2012
COLUMBUS, Ohio -The No. 5 Ohio State men’s gymnastics team continues its Big Ten schedule at No. 3 Illinois at 8 p.m. ET Friday at Huff Hall in Champaign, Ill. The Buckeyes (6-3, 4-2 Big Ten) return to action after posting a 347.200 team score last weekend in a home dual meet vs. Penn State.
SHARIPOV PREVIEWS ILLINOIS
“I think for our young team, they need to concentrate on their own routines and prepare themselves as best they can this week,” head coach Rustam Sharipov said. “We have settled on our routines and won’t increase our start values. We are now focusing on execution and consistency. I would like to see us improve our execution on parallel bars this weekend. In order for us to be competitive against other teams, we need our key guys to hit their events.”
BUCKEYES IN THE RANKINGS
As a team, Ohio State moves up to No. 5 in the latest GymInfo National Rankings released Feb. 27 with a three-score average of 346.483. The Buckeyes are polled in the Top 10 in all six events, including third place on floor exercise (59.367), tied for fourth with Stanford on pommel horse (57.517), seventh on both vault (58.483) and high bar (56.783), tied for eighth with Michigan on rings (57.77) and eighth overall on parallel bars (56.650).
Individually, seven members are ranked in the Top 20 nationally in the event three-score average polls. Senior co-captain Blaize Monks leads the squad with a third place ranking on high bar (14.917). Freshman Danny Steiner is fifth overall on floor exercise (15.2), while senior co-captain Ty Echard is tied for fifth on pommel horse (14.983). Sophomore Misha Koudinov is tied for seventh on floor exercise (15.167) and 16th on parallel bars (14.500). Freshman Larry Mayer leads the Buckeyes on vault with a tenth place mark (14.933), while redshirt sophomore Michael Newburger sits tied for 16th on pommel horse (14.517). Freshman Alex Nork rounds out the Buckeyes in the Top 20 tied for 17th on parallel bars (14.433).
LAST TIME OUT
In their second home competition at St. John Arena, the Scarlet and Gray fell to No. 2 Penn State, 355.500-347.200, despite posting three event season highs Feb. 25. Redshirt sophomore Michael Newburger highlighted Buckeyes’ season-high of 58.800 on pommel horse after posting a career-high 15.350 on the event for first overall. Freshman Danny Steiner tied his season-high on floor exercise with a 15.30, while senior Philip Onorato claimed a team-best 14.750 on rings to help the squad collect a season-high 58.80 team total. Freshman Larry Mayer guided Ohio State on vault for the third-consecutive meet with a 14.90. Sophomore Misha Koudinov scored a career-high 15.00 on parallel bars for second overall, while senior co-captain Blaize Monks earned a career-high 15.600 on high bar to claim the event title.
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.
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 conclude their home schedule with a dual meet vs. Stanford at 7 p.m. March 9 at St. John Arena. The 2012 senior class will be recognized before the start of competition as part of Senior Day.
