The Ohio State men's gymnastics team is heading back to Columbus with some hardware as the Buckeyes posted a season-best score of 423.700 to earn a runner-up finish at the NCAA Championships on Saturday night.
The second-place finish is the team's best finish since Ohio State placed second in the 2005 NCAA Championships. It was especially meaningful as it came less than a week after the Buckeyes lost one of their former teammates. Larry Mayer, who competed for Ohio State from 2012-15, passed away on Monday after being hit by a truck.
"This week has been a bit of a roller coaster with the all that we've dealt with {the loss of former teammate Larry Mayer}, but our guys took each day in stride and stuck together," Ohio State head coach Rustam Sharipov said in a release. "The tragedy made us come together even closer as a team, and this whole weekend was dedicated to Larry."
Ohio State honored Mayer by wearing special patches on their uniforms throughout the NCAA Championships.
This weekend is for you Larry. #LarryStrong pic.twitter.com/LyJusDDvf1
— Ohio State Men's Gym (@OhioState_MGYM) April 21, 2017
Five Buckeyes earned All-America honors with their performances highlighted by junior Sean Melton, who had an All-American finish at three different events. Martin finished fourth in the all-around after topping his Big Ten Championships performance by more than a point and narrowly missed out on national titles on both rings and high bar.
The other All-Americans were Alex Yoder on pommel horse and all-around, Jake Dastrup, David Szarvas on pommel horse and Joey Bonanno on floor.
Oklahoma took first place for the third-straight year, but Sharipov is proud of his team's performance, particularly the seniors for leading the way.
"I couldn't be more proud of how our seniors led us on this journey," Sharipov said. "They showed tremendous leadership all season long, and for them to go out like this is very special. We went out there this evening and put it all on the line, gave it the best shot we had, and for that, I'm proud of our guys."
