Buckeye excellence is not exclusive to the football field or the basketball court. Around the Oval is our way of keeping you informed of the amazing things happening with the other 34 varsity sports on campus.
Big Ten Titles
Ohio State claimed four individual titles and one relay title at this weekend's 2016 Big Ten Championships.
Sophomore Liz Li and junior Lindsey Clary were the standouts for the Buckeyes. The pair each claimed two conference titles. Li finished in first place in the 100 butterfly with a time of 51.77 and the 50 freestyle with a time of 21.80.
Clary took first place in the 400 IM before a spectacular performance in 1650 freestyle. Not only did clary take first place, she did it in record-breaking fashion. Her time of 15:49.98 set a new Big Ten Championship record, pool record and broke her old Ohio State recored by an incredible 14 seconds.
The Buckeyes also took first place in the 200 freestyle relay as Liz Li, Annie Jongekrijg, Rachael Dzierzak, and Macie McNichols finished with a time of 1:28.29.
As a team, the Buckeyes finished in fourth place with 859 points earning its sixth top-five finish at the conference championship meet since 2010.
All of Ohio State's Big Ten champions in addition to Liz Li in the 100 freestyle have qualified for the NCAA Championships March 17-19, giving them an opportunity to be crowned individual national champions.
Ticket Punched
For the first time since 1991, the Ohio State rifle team has punched its ticket to the NCAA Rifle Championship.
The fired a school record 4685 at the NCAA Qualifier match this weekend in Columbus – the fourth time on the season the team has broken the school record.
“It has been an incredible journey throughout this season to get to this point and I am thrilled for our team to be able to continue our season and represent Ohio State at the NCAA Rifle Championships," said Ohio State head coach Ryan Tanoue in an OSU release. "Heading into this weekend we were coming off of several very good performances and I felt the team was extremely confident. That really showed on Saturday, and for our group to be able to post a team record in the biggest match of the year shows how much we have grown throughout the season and how well prepared we were.”
Ohio State will officially know their fate, Thursday at 5 pm during the NCAA Rifle Championship selection show.
It's going to be a test for the Buckeyes, but it's not one the team is ill prepared for, according to Tanoue, noting that his team has competed against every one of the other qualifying teams. "This familiarity will be huge for our group and although we will have qualified in seventh, everything starts back at zero at the championships and we will look to finish what has been a record setting season with a championship worthy performance in Akron,” he said.
Undefeated
The Ohio State baseball team opened its season this weekend at the Inaugural Historic Dodgertown Classic in Vero Beach, Fla., and they rolled.
Friday night, Buckeye ace Tanner Tully threw six shutout innings and the Scarlet and Gray hit three home-runs on 11 hits, dominating in-state rival Toledo 7-1.
Saturday, things were much more interesting. In both games, Ohio State rallied from multi-run deficits to claim late-inning wins.
Against Niagara, redshirt junior Jacob Bosiokovic hit a three-run, walk-off home run off the foul poll in the bottom of the ninth giving the Buckeyes a 10-7 win. Bosiokovic's walk-off blast came after he tied the game in the seventh with a two-run home-run.
Mondays turn for what@bocaJ_ launched three , including this walk-off in #Dodgertown. Enjoy. https://t.co/tuG34GUdFm#GoBucks
— Ohio State Baseball (@OhioState_BASE) February 22, 2016
Later that day, Ohio State found itself trailing Pittsburgh 6-5 in the ninth, but scored three runs to take a 8-6 lead. Pitt then forced extra innings with two runs of their own, and the game remained tied until the Buckeyes drove in three runs in the 13th to claim victory after a grueling four hour and 54 minute contest.
The Buckeyes left the weekend undefeated after their fourth contest ended quite peculiarly – in a tie. Both Ohio State and Toledo had unalterable travel plans, so the teams agreed to end the game in a draw after the teams were locked even at 5-5 after nine-innings. It's the team's first tie since 2002.
The Buckeyes take their unbeaten streak to Myrtle Beach, S.C. Feb. 26-29 for the Caravelle Resort Baseball at the Beach Tournament, where they'll face Duke, Coastal Carolina twice, and Liberty.
Other Scores and News
- No. 5 Women's Basketball: Downed Nebraska 96-70 and Illinois 117-74.
- No. 6 Men's Tennis: Swept No. 7 Texas A&M and survived against No. 23 Florida 4-3.
- No. 5 Women's Tennis: Downed Tennessee 6-1.
- Men's Hockey: Lost one game to No. 15 Penn State 6-1 and won the other 7-4.
- Women's Hockey: Downed No. 9 North Dakota 3-1, then lost 3-2 in regular season finale.
- No. 6 Men's Volleyball: Swept Grand Canyon, Saturday and won 3-1, Sunday.
- Softball: Won two games against Georgia Tech and lost two against Syracuse in inaugural Big Ten/ACC Challenge
- No. 11 Men's Lacrosse: Lost to Massachusetts 16-9.
- Women's Lacrosse: Defeated California 16-15 in overtime, Friday and lost to Stanford 18-7, Sunday.
