Feb. 21, 2013

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Weekly Release

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The No. 5 Ohio State men’s gymnastics team will host defending national champion No. 7 Illinois in a co-ed dual meet with the women’s gymnastics team at St. John Arena Saturday Feb. 23. The meet is slated to start at 4 p.m. Admission is $8 for adults, $6 for seniors and kids under 12 and $4 for group tickets (10 or more) when purchased in advance. Ohio State students receive free admission with a valid Buck-ID.

For more information, contact Ohio State Ticket Sales at (614) 292-0043 or at AthleticSales@osu.edu.

PROMOTIONS VS. ILLINOIS

Fans can register to win two men’s basketball tickets for the Michigan State game Feb. 24 and two men’s ice hockey tickets for the Michigan game Feb. 23.

BUCKEYES IN THE RANKINGS

The Buckeyes hold steady at No. 5 in the most recent GymInfo poll with a three score average of 432.450.

After the fourth week of team competition, Ohio State continues to rank within the top 10 of all six events. The Buckeyes currently rank third on floor exercise (74.450) and pommel horse (72.617), fourth on high bar (71.833), and vault (73.667), eighth on rings (72.150) and ninth on parallel bars (69.783).

INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS

Floor Exercise

No. 9 Danny Steiner - 15.193

No. 10 Jeff Treleaven - 15.150

Pommel Horse

No. 1 Michael Newburger - 15.433

No. 16 Jake Martin - 14.667

Rings

No. 14 Drew Moling - 15.050

Vault

No. 6 Jeff Treleaven - 14.983

No. 15 Larry Mayer - 14.850

No. 17 Drew Moling - 14.800

Parallel Bars

No. 20 Drew Moling - 14.517

High Bar

No. 6 Jake Martin - 14.950

No. 14 Kris Done - 14.650

LAST TIME OUT

No. 5 Ohio State tallied its best team score of the season Feb. 16, but it wasn’t enough to overcome No. 3 Michigan as the Buckeyes fell to the Wolverines, 446.150 - 435.650, at St. John Arena.

In addition to posting their best team score of the season, the Buckeyes notched team highs on four of six events. Ohio State posted team bests on floor exercise (74.850), pommel horse (73.050), rings (72.850) and vault (74.650).

Redshirt junior Michael Newburger claimed his third event title of the season on pommel horse, scoring a 15.40 to claim first place. Sophomore Larry Mayer earned his first individual event title of the season on vault, scoring a career-high 15.35, while sophomore Drew Moling tied for first on high bar with a career-high 15.05.

SCOUTING ILLINOIS

Illinois comes into Columbus at No. 7 in the most recent Gym Info poll with a three score average of 428.150.

After the fourth week of team competition, the Fighting Illini rank within the top ten of all six events, ranking fourth on rings (74.550), fifth on pommel horse (71.750), sixth on parallel bars (71.150), eighth on floor exercise (71.900), ninth on high bar (69.633) and 10th on vault (72.017).

Individually, five Illinois gymnasts rank within the top ten on three different events as Mike Wilner is No. 1 on rings, Fred Hartville is No. 7 on vault, Logan Bradley is No. 10 on pommel horse and Joey Peters and Yoshi Mori are No. 4 and No. 7 in the all-around, respectively.

Hartville earned Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors this week for his performance against No. 8 Iowa Feb. 16. The Atlanta native captured the vault title with a 15.100 and placed second on floor exercise with a career-high 14.750, which is the third-best floor score Illinois in 2013.

THIRD TIME’S A CHARM

Ohio State has already faced Illinois twice this season, at the Windy City Invitational Jan. 19 and at the Metroplex Challenge Jan. 25. The Buckeyes came away with a tie (427.75) in the first meeting, while defeating the Illini 429.40-428.30 during the second meeting at the Metroplex Challenge.

LAST SEASON AGAINST ILLINOIS

No. 5 Ohio State fell at No. 3 Illinois, 355.100-341.300, March 2 at Huff Hall in Champaign, Ill. The Buckeyes soared their way to a season-high 59.100 on vault in the meet vs. the Illini, while senior co-captain Ty Echard shared the pommel horse title with a season-high 15.2.

The Buckeyes began the evening on pommel horse and posted a 58.500 team total, .300 off their season-high set Feb. 25 vs. Penn State in Columbus. Echard, a two-time All-American, guided the Buckeyes with a season-high 15.2 to tie for first overall on the event with Yoshi Mori of Illinois. The event win was Echard’s 10th career pommel horse title and second first-place finish of 2012.

The Buckeyes traveled to the vault for the third rotation, scoring a season-high 59.100 team total. Mayer led the charge when he was awarded with a season-high 15.2 for second overall.

NEWBURGER IS NO. 1

Newburger currently ranks No. 1 on pommel horse after scoring a 15.40 to capture his third individual event title of the season against No. 3 Michigan. The redshirt junior posted a career-high 15.50 en route to winning the pommel horse individual event title at the 2013 Winter Cup Challenge Feb. 9. Newburger, an All-American on the event and native of Austin, Texas, earned his first individual event title of the season after scoring a 15.40 against No. 1 Penn State.

SOPHOMORE SUCCESS

Ohio State’s sophomore class had a career meet against No. 3 Michigan, posting seven career high and three season high performances.

Moling led the way, winning his first individual event title of the season after tying for first place on high bar with Michigan’s Adrian de los Angeles with a career high 15.05. The Canal Winchester, Ohio, native posted a career high 15.45 for a second-place finish on rings, and a career high 14.75 for a second-place finish on parallel bars.

Behind Moling, Mayer posted a career high 15.35 on vault to earn his first individual event title of the season. The Carmel, Ind., native also posted a season high 13.40 on parallel bars.

Alex Nork earned a season high score of 14.55 on rings and a career high score of 14.20 on high bar, while Danny Steiner posted a career high 14.90 and Andrew Teal tallied a career high 14.85 on vault, respectively. Teal also notched a season high 14.65 on floor exercise.

FRESHMAN DEBUT

Freshman Alex Johnson competed in his first collegiate meet against No. 3 Michigan. The Marysville, Ohio, native scored a 14.60 on rings and a 13.80 on high bar.   

THE ROAD TO COLORADO SPRINGS

Two current and two former Buckeyes competed for a spot on the U.S. Senior Men’s National Team at the 2013 Winter Cup Challenge at the LV Center in Las Vegas Feb. 7-9.

Done, a two-time NCAA All-American, placed 21st overall in the all-around with a two-day score of 160.000. The Auckland, New Zealand native earned one top 10 and two top 20 finishes, placing third on high bar with a two-day score of 28.500, tying for 13th on parallel bars with a 27.900 and tying for 14th on floor exercise with a 28.200.

Former Buckeye Ty Echard scored a 14.400 during the first day of competition and a 15.550 during the second day of competition to notch a two-day score of 29.950 and second place on pommel horse overall.

Former Buckeye Brandon Wynn was selected to the U.S. Senior Men’s National Team at the conclusion of the Winter Cup.

DONE, KOUDINOV TEAM CAPTAINS

Done, a native of Auckland, New Zealand, earned his second consecutive All-America honor on high bar in 2012 after finishing fifth overall at the NCAA Individual Event Championships last spring in Norman, Okla., having missed the majority of the season due to injury.

Koudinov earned his first All-America honor last season after tying for third on parallel bars

at the NCAA Individual Event Championships. Ohio State’s 2012 Sportsmanship honoree, Koudinov earned second team All-Big Ten honors after scoring a 15.20 on floor exercise to tie for third place and a 15.05 on parallel bars to finish in second place at the conference championships.

UP NEXT

The Buckeyes continue their three-meet homestand, hosting UIC March 9 in a co-ed dual meet with the women’s gymnastics team at St. John Arena. The meet marks Senior Day for two Ohio State men’s gymnasts, John Laing and Blaize Monks, and is slated to start at 4 p.m.