No. 3 Buckeyes Host NCAA Championships – Ohio State Buckeyes
4/13/2016 12:00:00 AM | General, Men's Gymnastics
April 13, 2016
Tickets | Championship Central – Video, Results | Parking Info
Friday Start Lists | Weekly Release
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The third-ranked Ohio State men’s gymnastics team hosts the 2016 NCAA Men’s Gymnastics Championships this Friday and Saturday, April 15-16, at St. John Arena. The Buckeyes will be competing for their first national championship since 2001.
Friday competition consists of two qualifying sessions, the first at 1 p.m. ET and the second at 7 p.m. ET. Ohio State, the No. 3 seed, will compete in the evening session against No. 2 Stanford, No. 6 Illinois, No. 7 Iowa, No. 10 Air Force and No. 11 Michigan. The afternoon session features No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 4 California, No. 5 Minnesota, No. 8 Penn State, No. 9 Nebraska and No. 12 Navy. The Top-3 teams in the final standings at each session advance to the national championship Saturday at 7 p.m., which consists of team, all-around and event finals.
All-session adult tickets are $20, while youth and student admission is $12. Single-session adult tickets are $12 each, with youth and student prices set at $8.
Tickets are available for purchase online at OhioStateBuckeyes.com, Ticketmaster.com and NCAA.com/tickets, and by phone at 1-800-GOBUCKS. In-person purchase is available during business hours at the Ohio State Athletics Ticket Office, located at the Jerome Schottenstein Center and day-of only at St. John Arena.
FOLLOW ALONG!
Live results and a live stream can be found at www.sportsincbus.com. Each event will have its own separate live stream. You can also find live video at NCAA.com/video.
Fans are encouraged to follow along on Twitter and get involved with the conversation using #NCAAgym. Ohio State-specific updates can be found on the team’s Twitter page, @OhioState_MGYM.
PARKING INFORMATION
It’s a busy weekend on campus as Ohio State hosts the NCAA gymnastics championships, the 2016 Spring Football Game, Garth Brooks at the Schottenstein Center and several other home athletic contests. Gymnastics fans are encouraged to park in lots on the north and south sides of St. John Arena and French Field House.
For more information, click on the link above.
MEET PAUL HAMM, BLAINE WILSON AND BRANDON WYNN AT THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
Three of the top American gymnasts of all-time will be in attendance at the 2016 NCAA Men’s Gymnastics Championships at St. John Arena.
Paul Hamm, 2004 Olympic all-around champion, Blaine Wilson, 2004 Olympic team silver medalist and Brandon Wynn, 2013 world still rings bronze medalist, will be available for autographs at the national championships. Wilson is scheduled to sign autographs at both qualifying sessions on Friday, April 15 (11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. & 5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.), while Wynn and Hamm are set to sign on Saturday, April 16 (5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.).
BUCKEYE HISTORY AT NCAAs
Ohio State has won three NCAA team titles, with the most recent title coming in 2001 at St. John Arena. Three members of the 2001 squad notched individual event championship titles as Jamie Natalie won the all-around, Daren Lynch won on vault and Raj Bhavsar, a 2008 U.S. Olympian, won on parallel bars.
OSU won its second national crown at the 1996 NCAA Championships. Wilson captured the all-around, rings and parallel bars titles while Drew Durbin earned a national championship on pommel horse.
The Buckeyes won the program’s first national championship in 1985. Twin brothers Noah and Seth Riskin were named co-champions on parallel bars at the event finals.
Ohio State gymnasts have earned 27 NCAA individual championships. Most recently, redshirt senior Michael Newburger won the 2013 NCAA Championship on pommel horse. Wilson leads the Ohio State record books with six national championships, followed by Durbin and Natalie with three each.
BIG TEN CHAMPIONS!
Ohio State captured the 2016 Big Ten title in front of a hometown crowd at St. John Arena earlier this month. The Buckeyes secured their 13th Big Ten title overall and first since 2007 with a team score of 434.450, beating Illinois by nearly five points.
Sean Melton was spectacular for the Buckeyes at the conference championships. He won the B1G all-around title with a score of 89.750 and added gold medals on parallel bars and floor exercise, along with a silver medal on rings. He set an NCAA record dating back to the 2012 season on parallel bars – a near-flawless score of 16.175 – and tied a personal-best score of 15.450 to secure the title on floor. He was named Big Ten Gymnast of the Year at the conclusion of the championships.
Alec Yoder was outstanding in his conference championship debut, earning Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors, the second Buckeye in the last three years to do so after Melton collected the award in 2014. Yoder was victorious on pommel horse with a score of 15.225 and was the runner-up in the all-around with a score of 87.550.
Seth Delbridge (vault) and Alex Johnson (high bar) added a pair of silver medals to the Buckeyes’ haul and earned Second Team All-Big Ten honors.
Rustam Sharipov was named Big Ten Coach of the Year after leading his team to the conference title.
RECORD SETTERS
The 2016 Buckeyes have rewritten the record books in their march to the postseason. So far this season, the Scarlet and Gray have set new team records in:
– All-Around, 447.700 at the Arnold Challenge
– Rings, 76.050 vs Oklahoma & Air Force
– High Bar, 75.750 vs. Oklahoma & Air Force
– Vault, 75.450 at Michigan
– Parallel Bars, 75.150 at the Arnold Challenge
In addition, Melton set new school records in the all-around (91.600) and on parallel bars (16.175, also an NCAA record).
MELTON NAMED TO U.S. NATIONAL TEAM
Melton was named to the U.S. Senior National Team following a third-place performance in the all-around at the 2016 Winter Cup Challenge in Las Vegas Feb. 20.
Melton posted a two-day score of 174.500, finishing behind three-time U.S. all-around champion Sam Mikulak (177.450) and 2015 NCAA all-around champion Akash Modi of Stanford (175.300).
Melton, who led the competition after day one, finished first overall on parallel bars with a two-day score of 30.150. He also earned a runner-up finish on rings (30.750) and placed eighth overall on floor (29.100). He posted scores of 15 or better five times over two days, highlighted by a 15.400 on rings in the second preliminary session.
Performances at Winter Cup helped determine the 15-man U.S. Men’s Senior National Team through the 2016 P&G Gymnastics Championships in Hartford, Conn., June 3-5.
BUCKEYES IN THE RANKINGS
TEAM
Ohio State is ranked No. 3 in the College Gymnastics Association (CGA) National Rankings.
The Buckeyes are one of six B1G schools ranked in the Top 10 along with Minnesota (No. 4), Illinois (No. 5), Iowa (No. 7), Penn St. (No. 8) and Nebraska (No. 9).
OSU owns the No. 3 average all-around score in the nation this season, a four-score average of 438.438. The Buckeyes are ranked second on both rings (75.125 average) and rank sixth or better on the remaining five events: vault (fourth, 73.750), parallel bars (fourth, 73.050), high bar (fourth, 72.388), pommel horse (fifth, 71.800) and floor exercise (sixth, 73.275).
INDIVIDUAL (TOP 20 NATIONALLY/QUALIFYING AVERAGE)
Sean Melton
No. 1, rings; No. 2, parallel bars;
No. 4, all-around; No. 8, high bar;
No. 13 (tie), floor exercise
Alec Yoder
No. 2, pommel horse; No. 6 all-around
No. 10, rings; No. 14, high bar
Cody Teaney
No. 12 (tie), rings
Tristan Burke
No. 14, vault; No. 18, rings
Andrew Rickly
No. 15, high bar
