Buckeyes Ready for Showdown With No. 4 Illinois
3/22/2017 12:00:00 AM | General, Men's Gymnastics
March 22, 2017
Columbus, Ohio – The No. 3 Ohio State men’s gymnastics team will compete in its final regular season meet of the season on the road Friday evening against No. 4 Illinois at Huff Hall. The dual meet will be televised on the Big Ten Network starting at 8 p.m. ET.
The Buckeyes enter the meet with the No. 3 all-around score average (417.333) in the nation along with a No. 2 ranking on pommel horse with an average score of 70.350.
BUCKEYES IN THE TOP 10 NATIONALLY (By Average)
Jake Martin – No. 4 (all-around and high bar)
Alec Yoder – No. 2 (pommel horse)
Jake Dastrup – No. 4 (parallel bars)
Sean Melton – No. 5 (rings), No. 8 (parallel bars), No. 9 (floor)
Yoder owns the best pommel horse individual routine in the nation. Two weeks ago against No. 1 Oklahoma, Yoder scored a personal best 15.400 on the pommel to win gold. Melton’s season-best score of 15.050 that he recorded at the Winter Cup (Feb. 18) on the floor ranks as the second best in the NCAA.
MELTON AND MARTIN SHOW
Sean Melton and Jake Martin have combined to win 12 event titles in 2017. Martin has three all-around titles with an average of 84.650 (No. 4 NCAA), three high bar wins with the fourth-best average in the NCAA (14.633) and he captured a gold on the rings against UIC.
Three of Melton’s five event titles this year have come on the floor. The redshirt junior is averaging a 14.480 in the event, which is the fourth highest in the nation. Melton’s lone other title of the season came at Penn State when he scored a readout of 14.750 on the rings.
Melton has also been named a member of the 2017 U.S. National Team after his performance at the Winter Cup (Feb. 16 & 18). Melton placed in the top six spots of each of the four events he competed in. His best finish of the meet was on the parallel bars where he scored a two-day tally of 28.000 to place third.
On the rings, his two-day tally of 29.250 settled him in fourth-place position. He closed out the meet with a with a fifth-place finish on the high bar (26.950) and a sixth-place showing on the floor (28.150).
SCOUTING THE FIGHTING ILLINI
Illinois is the only Big Ten opponent to register a win over the Buckeyes this season. The Fighting Illini and Ohio State met at the Windy City Invitational (Jan. 14) in the first meet of the season for both squads. In the six team event, Illinois won with a score of 412.150 and Ohio State placed second with a tally of 403.450.
Illinois has the fourth-best scoring average in the nation (415.233) and excels on the high bar (70.517) and floor (70.817), both of which rank No. 3 in the NCAA.
*all scores/averages/rankings in the release are based off the NCAA regulated four-score averages
