Ohio State
Team Finals
Ohio State Finishes Fifth at Big Ten Championships – Ohio State Buckeyes
4/7/2012 12:00:00 AM | General, Men's Gymnastics
April 7, 2012
IOWA CITY, Iowa–The No. 6 Ohio State men’s gymnastics team placed fifth with a 343.650 at the 2012 Big Ten Championships Friday in Carver Hawkeye Arena at the University of Iowa. Illinois won the title (352.950) for the fourth-consecutive year followed by Michigan in second place for the second-consecutive year (351.850). Penn State placed third with a 350.000, Minnesota earned fourth with a 345.800 followed by Iowa in sixth (342.800) and Nebraska in seventh (340.700).
Six Buckeyes qualified to compete at the individual event finals at 8 p.m. ET Saturday. Sophomore Misha Koudinov qualified for floor exercise (seventh place) and parallel bars (third place), while Ty Echard (fifth) and Michael Newburger (second) advanced to the pommel horse finals. Mike Behles advanced on rings (tied ninth place), freshman Larry Mayer advanced on vault and classmate Danny Steiner qualified for the floor exercise finals (sixth).
“We started well on the pommel horse, the rings and the vault then on parallel bars we had some break downs.” Head coach Rustam Sharipov said. “High bar I would say was very rough. We should have been able to score three to four points higher tonight. I think we need to make adjustments and toughen up on the landings.”
The Buckeyes started on pommel horse in the first rotation where they posted a 56.95. Sophomore Michael Newburger led the team with a 14.90 for second overall. Right behind him was senior captain Ty Echard who earned a 14.35 for fifth overall despite a fall on the event. Rounding out the Top 3 was junior John Laing with a 14.00, who tied for 14th.
In the second rotation , Ohio State headed to rings. Senior Mike Behles led the way with a 15.00 to tie for ninth. Not far behind was freshman Drew Moling with a 14.95 for 11th overall. Sophomore Misha Koudinov came in the Top 3 for Ohio State with a 14.30. The team finished with a 58.25 on the event.
Moving onto vault in the third rotation Ohio State tallied a 68.30 on the event. Freshman Larry Mayer led the team with a powerful vault that scored him a 15.05 to place seventh. Freshman Danny Steiner and Behles scored a 14.50 and 14.40, respectively, to round out the Top 3 for the Buckeyes.
Koudinov led the Scarlet and Gray on parallel bars in the fourth rotation where he had a solid set to earn a 15.10 for third place. Moling with a 14.15 was second on the team. Rounding out the team’s Top 3 was Behles with a 14.05. Ohio State totaled a 57.05 on parallel bars to have a running total of 230.55 after four rotations.
The Buckeyes headed to high bar in the fifth rotation to earn a 55.25. Junior captain Blaize Monks set the bar for Ohio State with a 14.40 to tie for 11th place. A pair of 13.65’s were earned by freshman Alex Nork and sophomore Kris Done. Right behind them was Moling who rang in a 14.55. Heading into the last rotation, Ohio State had earned a 285.80.
In the final rotation, Ohio State collected 57.85. The team was led by Steiner with a 14.95 for sixth place. Koudinov tallied a 14.80 on floor to rank second on the team and seventh overall.
