COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Third-ranked Ohio State fell to No. 8 Illinois 428.450-425.450 on Sunday afternoon at Huff Hall in its first dual meet of the season.
“It was a rough day for us,” Ohio State head coach Rustam Sharipov said. “We didn’t perform as well as we wanted to, and we gave away an opportunity. We’ll use this meet as experience for the future, and now we need to regroup for our meet next week against Michigan.”
Two Buckeyes won individual event titles against the Illini, as redshirt senior Michael Newburger posted a 16.200 on pommel horse to claim his second consecutive title on the event and freshman Jacob Dastrup notched a career-high 14.850 on parallel bars to claim first place overall.
Ohio State also posted a season-best 70.500 on floor exercise, led by junior Danny Steiner who scored a 14.850 on the event to finish in second place.
The Scarlet and Gray opened the meet on floor exercise. Behind Steiner, senior Brandän Jones tallied a career-high 14.500 and Dastrup notched a career-high 14.450 to round out the top three Buckeye scorers on the event.
The Buckeyes moved to pommel horse for the second rotation, where Dastrup scored a 14.450 to place second on the team and fifth overall, and freshman Jake Martin notched a 14.100 to finish third.
Junior co-captain Drew Moling paved the way for the team on rings for the second consecutive week, scoring a 14.750 to finish second. Sophomores Alex Johnson and Jake Martin scored a 14.300 and 13.950, respectively, to place second and third on the team.
The Buckeyes advanced to vault for the fourth rotation, where freshman Logan Melander scored a 14.700 to finish third overall. Behind Melander, redshirt freshman Emeric Quade notched a 14.550 and Dastrup and Moling each earned a 14.400.
Dastrup led the Scarlet and Gray on parallel bars in the fifth rotation. Freshman Andrew Rickly and senior Misha Koudinov each earned scores of 14.200 to tie for third place overall.
Ohio State ended the meet on high bar, where senior Alex Nork placed second with a 14.300, Johnson scored a 14.200 to claim third place and Moling tallied a 14.100 to round out the top three Buckeye scorers with a fourth-place finish.
