Men's Gymnastics Tops Ohio State and Navy in Thriller :: The Owls topped the Buckeyes on the final event of the evening

PHILADELPHIA- The Temple men's gymnastics team lit up McGonigle Hall on Saturday evening with a win over #7 Ohio State and #11 Navy in a tri-meet that came down to the wire and left the crowd biting their nails the entire time. With a 342.850, the Temple Owls narrowly defeated the Buckeyes of Ohio State as they turned in a respectable 341.150. Navy rounded out the field with a 332.850, respectively.

With three events happening simultaneously, the Owls took to the floor exercise for their first event and were led by a solid effort from redshirt freshman, Tyler Croteau (whip-Arabian double front). Junior John Vogtman moved cleanly and stuck a double Arabian of his own en route to a 14.400, to set-up senior Luke Vexler's anchoring 15.250 (layout Thomas; tucked Thomas; 5/2 dismount).

Meanwhile, Ohio State was throwing the code on rings with freshman Brandon Wynn leading all scorers with a 14.900. After the first rotation, Temple amassed a 58.400 to Ohio State's 56.900. Navy was back in third with a strong 52.850 on the pommel horse.

Temple moved to the pommel horse in the second rotation and were lead-off by senior John Jeffries hitting his set cold to setup his fellow teammates in what might have been Temple's best pommel horse showing in years. Andy Corp muscled his way through a Savado-Wu-triple Russian combo (13.200), as Sterling Kramer (13.500) kept the momentum going with a solid effort of his own. The wheels almost came of as Croteau (10.950) suffered through a series of mistakes to put the pressure on veterans Vexler and Vogtman, both of whom came through big time chipping in scores of 13.100 and 14.550, respectively.

Over on floor exercise, Ohio State's Jimmy Wickham (15.600) wowed the judges with a routine packed with difficulty (whip-half, front 2/1, barani; front layout-Randi; stuck Arabian double; stuck 3/1). Despite a solid showing at pommel horse, the Owls dropped behind the Buckeyes after the second rotation, 116.650-112.750. Navy dropped further back with a 107.200.

With Ohio State on pommel horse and Navy on the floor, Temple took to the still rings and were lead off by a solid performance from senior co-captain, Greg Monaco who bested his score from last week by one full point (12.400) to set the tone for Kramer's 14.000 (stuck full-twisting double), and Vogtman's 14.400 (kip-maltese; Yamawaki-straddle planche).

Ohio State was feeling the nerves on horse with shaky routines from Wynn, Mike Bell, and Tony Duong. Navy made up some ground over on floor exercise, highlighted by Brandon Cook's 15.350.

Despite their issues on the pommel horse, Ohio State remained in first over the Owls at the mid-way point, 170.650-168.100. Navy remained in third with a 164.350, and would stay in third place for the rest of the evening.

Temple moved to the vault in the fourth rotation and were lead off with Croteau's Yurchenko-full (chest down and huge step forward). Redshirt freshman Chris Bizub, competing in his first NCAA competition ever, floated his Kasamatsu 1/1 for a stellar 14.750. Feeling the momentum building, Vexler chipped in a 15.450 for Yurchenko 3/2, to setup redshirt freshman, Scott Bloomfield, who absolutely drilled a Kas 3/2 that brought the partisan crowd to its feet with a meet-high 16.350.

Perhaps feeling the injury bug, Ohio State competed only four athletes on the high bar, and were forced to count falls from Sean Regan (fall on Kolmann) and David Ortiz (trouble with some pirouetting sequences). Wynn kept the Buckeye's hopes alive with a solid set highlighted by a Def release (14.600).

Temple's 62.750 vault score put them in the lead over Ohio State, 230.850-225.650. Keeping in mind that the vault typically brings in much higher scores than any other apparatus in men's gymnastics, the Owls weren't quite ready to celebrate just yet.

In the fifth rotation, Temple switched the parallel bars while Ohio State took to the high-scoring vault, but suffered a fall from anchor Wickham (5/2 Yurchenko).

Over on p-bars, Temple was once again lead by Bloomfield, who rocked a 14.100 (stuck double pike) early in the lineup to erase landing troubles from Corp (short on his new double pike dismount), and Kramer (mistimed his peach to handstand). Vogtman led the Owls with a 14.250 as the Owls geared up for a head-to-head battle in what would be the sixth and final rotation of the evening.

After five rotations and both teams finished with vaulting, Temple kept their lead, albeit narrowly over the Buckeyes, 286.850- 285.550.

To close out the evening, Temple went to the high bar and Ohio State to the parallel bars, as fans were treated to a head-on battle for this tri-meet competition. Temple got off to a slow start with Bloomfield's 12.700, but looked to the experienced Vogtman to get things back on track with a 13.650. Meanwhile, Ohio State was turning in big numbers from Shachar Tal (14.200), Wynn (14.400), and Bateman's event high 15.250. Once again only competing four athletes, the Buckeyes were forced to count a dismal 11.750 from Justin Myers.

Senior leaders, Kramer and Vexler still had to hit, and threw it all out on the line with huge releases (Kolmann for Kramer, Kovacs for Vexler) and stuck dismounts for scores of 14.650 and 14.450, respectively.

As the crowd was buzzing over the excitement they just witnessed, the final scores were flashed and the Temple crowd once again came to its feet as the Owls overtook the Buckeyes, 342.850-341.150. Navy finished their meet with a respectable 332.850.

"This was a completely different atmosphere than what I'm used to competing in," said Bloomfield. "This win tonight shows us that we are capable of hanging with the top teams in the nation."

In his 32nd year as head coach of the Temple Owls, Fred Turoff added that, "This was certainly better than our meet last week against Penn State. I was most pleased with pommel horse, and after all of those hit routines, we felt the meet was going to be a success. I know Ohio State has lost some key players due to injury, but we have several of our top guys out as well. It would be very interesting to see how these two teams would fare if everyone was healthy."

Senior Luke Vexler was quick to add that the evenings win was very much a collective effort, noting the inexperienced freshman trio of Bloomfield, Croteau, and Bizub as being key players in the victory over Ohio State. "The upperclassmen did their job tonight, but our freshman proved to be more important than the senior leadership. They have never been in a situation like this, and they all came through big-time when it counted," added Vexler.

The Owls will take a break from regular-season NCAA competition, as they send several athletes to Las Vegas next weekend for the Winter Cup, a national qualifier for the USA Gymnastics senior national team. The following weekend, Temple will return to McGonigle Hall, as they host Springfield and MIT on Saturday, February 16th for a 7:30pm start.

Fans can watch an archived video of the Ohio State-Temple-Navy match-up right here at www.owlsports.com.