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.
Title Trifecta
The Ohio State athletic program had a busy weekend as the synchronized swimming, men's swimming and fencing teams all competed for national championships. Although none of the squads came home with the title, two teams notched runner-up performances and there was an individual national champion on all three teams.
Synchronized Swimming
The synchronized swimming team is arguably the most dominant team in the Ohio State athletic program. Since the program's foundation in 1976, the Buckeyes have won 29 national titles including last season's. Unfortunately, the Scarlet and Gray were unable to defend their title this season, finishing second behind national champion Stanford.
Though the Buckeyes couldn't repeat as a team, they still came home with some hardware as junior Emma Baranski earned the solo title. She becomes Ohio State's first individual national champion since 2012.
Fencing
Ohio State claimed another runner-up finish this weekend, earning second place at the 2016 NCAA Fencing Championships behind Columbia-Barnard, who won its second consecutive title. This is the Buckeyes' best finish at the championships since winning the 2012 NCAA title.
Ohio State was led by two individual performers – sophomore Maximilien Chastenet and junior Eleanor Harvey. Both Chastenet and Harvey won individual national titles in men and women's foil, respectively. The titles mark the first individual championships won by a Buckeye since 2013 and the first time in school history that Ohio State has won both the men's and women's title in one event.
Men's Swimming and Diving
At one time, Ohio State was far and away the best men's swimming and diving program in the country. Between 1943 and 1956, the Buckeyes won 10 titles, adding one more in 1962 for a total of 11, good for third all-time behind Texas and Michigan who each have 12. Lately, however, the team has not enjoyed the same success, riding a 54 year championship drought.
The drought was not broken this year either, as the team finished 14th at NCAA Championships. However there was quite a spark of good news – redshirt freshman Colin Zeng was named the 2016 platform diving national champion. Zeng becomes the 59th diving champion in Ohio State history, but just the third to win on platform.
Walk-Off Thriller
The Ohio State baseball team opened Big Ten Conference play this weekend against Northwestern.
In game one, the Wildcats got the best of the Scarlet and Gray. Northwestern took a 4-0 lead at the top of the sixth inning and although the Buckeye bats eventually came alive, the deficit was too much to overcome and Ohio State fell 6-5.
Ohio State's performance was much better in game two, which head coach Greg Beals called a "must-win" for his team. The Buckeyes took a 3-1 lead in the second inning, and never looked back cruising to a 5-2 victory.
"The story of the ball game was pitching and defense," said Beals. "We struck them out 11 times and only gave up one free base."
The highlight of the weekend, however, was game three. Ohio State trailed 3-0 after the second inning, but gradually battled back to keep the game within reach. The Buckeyes found themselves with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, trailing the Wildcats 4-3 with the game and series on the line.
Enter Jacob Bosiokovic.
WALK-OFF@bocaJ_ does it again!
— The OSU Baseball (@OhioState_BASE) March 27, 2016
Buckeyes win 5-4!https://t.co/iU3NgXe3Wm#GoBucks
The Buckeye junior belted the 2-1 pitch over the wall in left center-field giving Ohio State the 5-4 victory and the series win. The home run is Bosiokovic's team-best sixth on the season and his second walk-off homer.
“I think it was a changeup or two-seam – something running in," said Bosiokovic in an Ohio State release. "Luckily it took off and it felt good when it left the bat. It was great to do it in front of my family and friends. Just being at home with the fans was something special. Those moments will never get old.”
The win was Ohio State's seventh come from behind victory on the season, and improves the team's record to 14-7-1 and 2-1 in Big Ten play. The Buckeyes travel to face Ohio, Tuesday and host Toledo, Wednesday before hosting Bethune Cookman for a weekend series.
Other Scores and News
- No. 1 Men's Volleyball: Downed No. 9 Ball State 3-1 and swept IPFW 3-0.
- No. 1 Women's Rowing: Finished 4-0 against No. 11 Princeton, 3-2 against No. 6 Yale and 1-3 against No. 3 Brown.
- No. 4 Men's Tennis: Swept No. 23 Michigan as well as Michigan State, 4-0.
- No. 9 Women's Basketball: Fell in the Sweet 16 to Tennessee 78-62, ending their season.
- No. 15 Women's Lacrosse: Beat Binghamton 10-5 and Hofstra 18-8.
- Men's Lacrosse: Narrowly fell to No. 2 Notre Dame 9-8, suffering its fourth straight loss.
- Softball: Swept Maryland in three games, winning 12-2, 4-3 and 13-4.
- Men's Golf: Finished 8th of 17 at the Lone Star Invitational.
- Men's Track and Field: Finished first at the Power 5 Cardinal & Gold Challenge, defeating 3 ranked teams.
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Women's Track and Field: Finished fourth at the Power 5 Cardinal & Gold Challenge.
