Ohio State
Illinois
Buckeyes Close Out Regular Season With Win Against No. 4 Illinois
3/24/2017 12:00:00 AM | General, Men's Gymnastics
March 24, 2017
Champaign, Ill. – The No. 3 Ohio State men’s gymnastics team used a late rally in the final two rotations of their dual meet with No. 4 Illinois on Friday evening inside Huff Hall to prevail by a score of 416.850-415.250.
“I’m very proud of how our team fought tonight,” head coach Rustam Sharipov said. “Now that the regular season is over, it’s time to get ready for a successful postseason run.”
The Buckeyes received event titles from Sean Melton (parallel bars and rings), Alec Yoder (pommel horse) and Jake Martin (all-around) on their way to securing the come-from-behind victory. Entering the fifth rotation, the high bar, Ohio State had 278.850 points to Illinois’ 278.900.
OSU used scores of 67.950 (high bar) and 70.550 (parallel bars) to overtake the Fighting Illini during the last two rotations.
Melton’s title on rings with a tally of 15.200 was a primetime, much needed performance and it gave OSU momentum headed into the final two rotations. Melton’s routine on the rings was the best of his season and it is the second-best score in the NCAA this season; the title on rings is his third of the year. Melton closed out his evening with a sound routine on the parallel bars to capture gold in that event with a readout of 14.600.
For the second meet in a row and third time this season, Yoder registered a pommel horse routine of greater than 15 points. His tally of 15.100 points easily won him the event title. Yoder now has four pommel horse titles this season.
Ohio State scored a season high on the vault with a score of 71.700. Five stout performances from Seth Delbridge (14.600), Yoder (14.550), Melton (14.500), Jake Martin (14.300) and Joey Bonanno (13.750) paved the path for the season high. Yoder’s, Melton’s and Martin’s tallies were all season bests.
Martin prevailed in the all-around with a score of 80.400.
UP NEXT
Ohio State will make the return trip to Champaign, Ill., in two weeks for the Big Ten Championships (April 7-8).
