With a vocal and almost twice the normal-size crowd in St. John Arena Saturday, the Ohio State men’s and women’s gymnastics teams won their annual co-ed meet against Penn State.

The women’s team swept three of its four events while the men edged out No. 5 PSU in pommel horse, rings, parallel bars and high bar.

Women’s coach Carey Fagan said the co-ed meet is an event both teams look forward to every year. Men’s coach Miles Avery agreed, crediting crowd size as one of the biggest advantages in a co-ed meet.

“It’s tremendous in terms of doubling the size of the audience and the fans that come and see the Buckeyes,” he said.

Coach Fagan said that “the advantage is just the synergy of both teams together.” Because both teams train in the gym together, there’s a bond of support formed for one another’s program, she said.

Senior captain Hilary Dow said each team attends each other’s meets when they’re not competing and a co-ed meet is an opportunity to cheer each other on at the same time.
But a co-ed meet has it’s drawbacks with setup, warm-up space and distractions, Dow said.

“You got to make sure that the whole team is focused on what the team is doing and you don’t take the crowd or anything that’s going on as a distraction,” Dow said.

Because OSU schedules a co-ed meet with Penn State every year, the gymnasts are getting used to the confusion and congestion on the floor, Fagan said.

But Avery thinks the congestion is what “adds to the excitement. There’s so much going on, and [the gymnasts] are busy anyways, so they love it that way,” he said.

By meet’s end, the women’s team recorded eight season highs and three career bests in their third win this season.

Dow earned a 39.050 in all four events, her best all-around score in 2010.

Sophomores Casey Williamson and Nicole Krauter recorded career highs in the all-around and vault. Williamson earned a 39.075 in the all-around and Krauter a 9.8 on vault.

Williamson earned a season-high 9.825 on the vault while junior Rebecca Best scored a 9.825, tying her all-time best on the event.

Fagan said the win over PSU was big for the women’s team as they work through a season plagued by injuries.

“We have a lot of kids that are beat up right now and we’re trying to get them through to Big Tens and Regionals, trying to rest when we can,” she said.

The No. 7-ranked OSU men’s team lost on floor to PSU despite junior Brandon Wynn’s 14.4, a team best on floor.

Seniors Justin Meyers and Tai Lee tied for second in high bar with a pair of 14.85s, while Wynn scored a 16.000 on rings, just 0.100 shy of his event-best.

In their second co-ed meet of the season in Columbus on Mar. 13, the men’s team will take on Oklahoma while the women end regular season competition against Auburn.

While both men’s and women’s coaches look forward to another big crowd to help fuel the energy in St. John Arena, Avery is glad to have another co-ed competition alongside the women.

“You get an opportunity to support them,” Avery said. “And I think it’s really special when we do.”