Athletic Accolades
Big Ten Freshman of the Week (Jan. 18, 2016)Â
Academic Achievements
2016 Ohio State Scholar-Athlete
Personal Bests
All-Around – 86.000
Vault – 15.450
Rings – 15.200
Floor Exercise – 14.950
Parallel Bars – 14.450
Pommel Horse – 14.150
High Bar – 13.750
2017 (Sophomore)
Scored a 12.800 on rings at the NCAA Championships to help Ohio State earn runner-up honors … helped Ohio State win back-to-back Big Ten titles with a 14.000 on rings … competed at the Big Ten individual event titles on the rings (14.025) and placed sixth … captured titles on the rings at the Windy City Invitational (14.250) and against Michigan (14.150) … won gold on the vault at Penn State with a season-best score of 14.500 … earned bronze on the rings at Penn State with a 14.100 … scored a season-best 14.650 on rings against Oklahoma to finish in fourth … vaulted his way to a 14.450 at Oklahoma to finish fifth … scored a 14.100 on the rings (fourth-best score of session), 13.750 on the vault, and 13.450 on floor at the NCAA Qualifier to help Ohio State advance to the team finals … competed on the rings at Arnold Challenge (fifth place/14.200) and against Illinois (13.900/seventh place) … scored a season best on the floor at the Arnold Challenge with a 13.500 … collected season bests on the parallel bars (13.700) and high bar (12.750) at the Arnold Challenge at Penn State, respectively … completed the all-around at Oklahoma with a score of 78.000 to place third … finished in ninth on the floor against Michigan with a 12.450.
2016 (Freshman)
Represented Ohio State on floor exercise, rings and vault at the NCAA championships (April 16), finishing 20th on each event … featured on three events at the NCAA Qualifier (April 15) … competed on floor, rings, vault and parallel bars at the Big Ten championships (April 1); competed on rings at the B1G Event Finals (April 2), placing 10th … earned four Top-5 finishes against William & Mary and Temple (March 20), including a personal-best 15.200 on rings to finish second … competed on rings and vault in a tri-meet with Oklahoma and Air Force (March 7) … tied for first on rings with a 15.200 and tied for second on vault with a 15.200 at the Arnold Challenge (March 1) … competed in five events at Winter Cup (Feb. 18/20), highlighted by a 12th-place performance on vault and 14th-place finish on rings … represented Ohio State on floor exercise against Penn State (Feb. 13) … finished fourth in the all-around against Michigan with a score of 86.000 (Jan. 30); finished first on vault with a lifetime-best 15.450 and earned runner-up honors on floor … claimed a fifth-place finish on floor (team-best 14.950), tied for sixth on vault and competed on parallel bars and rings at the Cal/Stanford tri meet (Jan. 24) … named Big Ten Freshman of the Week after winning the all-around competition in his college debut at the Windy City Invitational (Jan. 17), the first Buckeye to win the AA in Chicago since Randy Monahan in 2004; posted the top team score on floor (14.850) and was one of two Buckeyes to post a 15.000 or higher on vault … Ohio State Scholar-Athlete.
Prior to Ohio State
Trained at WOGA Gymnastics under coach Sergei Pakanich … competed in the Senior Division at the 2015 P&G Championships … fourth in the all-around at the 2015 Men’s Junior Olympic National Championships; third on rings, sixth on floor and vault and seventh on parallel bars … 2014 U.S. all-around national champion, age 15-16 … fifth place in the all-around, 2014 Men’s Junior Olympic National Championships … sixth place in the all-around, 2013 Men’s Junior Olympic National Championships.
Personal
Son of Frank and Charlene Burke … has an older brother, Benjamin Sims … upon graduation, hopes to travel the country, work on motorcycles and make a change in the world … favorite pastimes include reading, listening to music, spending time with friends and family and working on/riding motorcycles.
