Buckeye Spotlight – April 23
4/23/2024 6:09:00 PM | General
Weekly highlight of the student-athletes behind the major moments in Ohio State Athletics
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Week in and week out, Buckeye student-athletes raise the standard of excellence set at Ohio State, whether that be in competition, in the classroom, or in the community. 'Buckeye Spotlight' recognizes student-athletes who had noteworthy accomplishments both in contests and beyond the box score.
Here are this week's Buckeye Spotlight student-athletes:
Michael Wright | Men's Volleyball | R-Sr. | Richmond, Virginia
- Wright set the Buckeyes to the 2024 MIVA Championship over the weekend with 95 assists in a pair of wins
- The Buckeyes defeated both Loyola Chicago and Lindenwood by scores of 3-1 to claim Ohio State's 19th league tournament title
- Wright was named the tournament MVP, his second in as many years in back-to-back tournament championships
- He also added four kills, two aces and five blocks in the wins
- The Buckeyes now head to their 23rd NCAA Tournament appearance April 30-May 4 in Long Beach, California.
Leah Sax | Women's Lacrosse | Sr. | Philadelphia, Pa.
- Sax, a Buckeye captain, led the squad with six goals and shared the team lead with seven points in Ohio State's two games combined last week.
- The senior, who is remaining at Ohio State to pursue her master's degree in social work, matched her career best with four goals against Rutgers on Senior Night last Thursday.
- The Philadelphia native then scored twice and had an assist in the Buckeyes' game at Temple Sunday. Her two goals late in the second quarter put the Buckeyes up 7-4 at the half en route to a 10-9 win.
- Sax is second on the team with 28 goals and ranks third with 34 points (both career highs), entering the Big Ten Tournament on a six-game point streak.
Third Varsity Four | Rowing
- The Ohio State 3V4 won all three of its races at the Big Ten Invite in Sarasota, Florida
- The crew of Iman Sattar, Alexandra Gluntz, Taylor Benedict, Morgan Perce and Halen Swickard earned the victories
- Ohio State finished among the Top 2 in 11-of-21 races over two days at the event
- The Buckeyes travel to Austin, Texas, this weekend for the Longhorn Invite
Jesse Mendez | Wrestling | So. | Crown Point, Indiana
- Mendez competed at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials last weekend in University Park, Pennsylvania
- The 2024 National Champion continued his success at the trials with three wins in freestyle to open the tournament at 65kg
- Finished fourth overall in his weight class with a 4-2 record over the two-days of competition
Men's Gymnastics
- The Ohio State men's gymnastics team hosted the 2024 NCAA Championships inside the Covelli Center for the first time this past weekend, finishing sixth as a team.
- The Buckeyes qualified for the team championships for the second time in the past three years and had five different individuals earn All-American honors - the most individual honorees since the 2017 season.
- Ohio State's All-Americans include: Kameron Nelson (seventh on floor, 14.233), Chase Davenport-Mills (tied eighth on floor, 14.200), Parker Thackston (tied seventh on pommel horse), Kazuki Hayashi (sixth on vault, 14.866) and Caden Spencer (fifth on high bar, 13.700).
Allison Smith & Emily Ruck | Softball | Sr. | Champion, Ohio & Westerville, Ohio
- Ohio State two senior pitchers combined to pick up six wins and two saves last week as the softball team ran its winning streak to seven consecutive games.
- Smith was 3-0 and a 1.05 earned run average, highlighted by a complete game shutout victory over Maryland in the series opener last Friday.
- Ruck, meanwhile, also went 3-0 and had a 2.17 earned run average of 19.1 innings with 16 strikeouts. Her save came in the series finale vs. Maryland, which was a 3-2 win that clinched a series sweep.
- The Buckeyes' pitching staff as a whole had a 1.54 ERA last week and allowed just nine earned runs over 41.0 innings.
- The Buckeyes (27-17) play their final three regular season home games this weekend when they host Illinois Friday-Sunday.
Carlos Aviles | Men's Track & Field | Sr. | Ventura, Calif.
- Carlos Aviles earned his first win of the season this past weekend at the Jesse Owens Classic.
- Aviles took the crown in the discus throw (57.63m / 189'1") with his best throw going more than two meters further than the runner-up. He also finished third in the shot put competition with his best throw going for 18.19m / 59'8.25".
- Aviles had a season-best throw in both events this past weekend, ranking 31st in the discus and 52nd in the shot put.
Chanler Robinson | Women's Track & Field | Sr. | Indianapolis, Ind.
- Chanler Robinson had her best meet of the season at the Jesse Owens Classic this past weekend.
- Robinson tallied her first win of the season in the 400m hurdles (58.70), finishing more than 0.8 seconds faster than the runner-up. She also had her highest finish of the season in the 100m hurdles as the runner-up (13.63).
- This season, Robinson ranks 32nd in the country in the 400m hurdles.
Patrick Schmuecking | Men's Golf | 5th Year | Wiesbaden, Germany
- Playing in his final collegiate event at Scarlet, Patrick Schmuecking carded rounds of 72-76-70 to finish tied for 9th at the Robert Kepler Intercollegiate.
- That was the fifth-year senior's first Top 10 finish of his career.
- His final round 70 was the second-lowest round of the day and the lowest of the 11 Buckeyes in action.
- Patrick has battled a back injury this season and it was awesome to see him cap his season with a great showing last weekend.
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