Buckeye Spotlight – Jan. 21

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Week in and week out, Buckeyes raise the standard of excellence set at Ohio State, whether that be in competition, in the classroom or in the community. ‘Buckeye Spotlight’ recognizes Buckeye student-athletes who had noteworthy accomplishments both in contests and beyond the box score.    
 
Leah Bertrand | Women’s Track & Field | Sr. | Point Fortin, Trinidad and Tobago

• Leah Bertrand won both of her events this past weekend at the Hoosier Horsepower Classic, including the 60m (7.34) and the 200m (23.58). She also posted the fastest time in the 60m first round (7.44).
• Her efforts in the 200m marked the fastest event time between the first two weeks of the season and was an indoor personal-best for her.

Brandon Carpico | Men’s Tennis | R-Fr. | Gahanna, Ohio

• Brandon Carpico went a combined 3-0 in a pair of Ohio State victories to open the season Saturday vs. Xavier and Toledo.
• He won his two doubles matches while losing just one game.
• In singles, he bested Toledo’s Lucas Britez 6-1, 6-2 to provide the clinching point.
• The three wins were his first collegiate dual match victories.

JJ Coleman | Women’s Gymnastics | Fr. | Albuquerque, N.M.

• Coleman’s Covelli Center debut was a night of firsts for the freshman.
• In the team’s first rotation of the home opener vs. Iowa, she anchored the vault lineup and earned a career-high 9.900. The score was her first career 9.900. 
• The performance was also the top score of the meet, giving her the first event title of her career.
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• Coleman also added a career-high 9.875 on floor in her first collegiate meet in front of a home crowd. 

Paddy Gallagher | Wrestling | R-Jr. | Chesterland, Ohio

• Moved up from 157 to 165 to face Purdue in Big Ten home dual
• Earned a late first round pin vs. Stoney Buell to give the Buckeyes six team points
• One of three Buckeyes to win by fall and seven with bonus points victories vs. the Boilers
• Helped No. 4 Ohio State improve to 11-0 overall and 3-0 in the Big Ten
• Set to lead Buckeyes at No. 2 Iowa Saturday in Iowa City (2 p.m./BTN)

Daniel Henwood Rodriguez | Men’s Volleyball | Fr. | Guaynabo, Puerto Rico

• Set the Buckeyes to a 3-1 win over No. 1 UCLA in Austin, Texas
• Recorded 32 assists, four kills, six digs and a block vs. the Bruins
• Made just his third career start in third win over nation’s No. 1 team in the last three years
• Will lead Buckeyes against No. 17 Penn State twice this week

Viktor Kulcsar | Men’s Fencing | Fr. | Budapest, Hungary

• In men’s epee, Kulcsar was 14-4 in the Buckeyes’ two events combined over the weekend.
• He was a perfect 3-0 vs. both North Carolina and Penn State Saturday at UPenn and Sunday was 3-0 against Notre Dame, 2-1 vs. St. John’s and Columbia and 1-2 vs. Harvard.
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• The Buckeye men were 5-4 on the weekend to improve to 17-9 overall this season. 

Dasha Myroniuk | Women’s Fencing | Jr. | Kiev, Ukraine

• In two events out east last weekend, Myroniuk led the Buckeye women with a 20-4 ledger.
• Saturday, she was 3-0 in all five team bouts, as the women finished the day undefeated against Johns Hopkins, Penn, Duke, North Carolina and Penn State.
• Myroniuk and the Buckeye women are 19-9 vs. all opponents this season.
• Sunday at St. John’s, the foilist was 5-4, posting 2-1 marks against Columbia and Harvard and going 1-2 against Notre Dame. 

Nao Nishino | Women’s Tennis | Fr. | Tokyo, Japan

• The Buckeye freshman was a perfect 4-0 Monday as Ohio State opened its season with two 7-0 shutout victories over Cleveland State and Bellarmine.
• Nishino dropped just one game in two singles victories on court four and she and Audrey Spencer paired up for two 6-1 doubles wins on court three.
• Nishino has started her collegiate career with a 14-5 overall record in singles and is 11-5 in doubles.

Caden Spencer | Men’s Gymnastics | Jr. | Huntington, W.Va.

• Junior Caden Spencer went 2-fo-2 last week as the Buckeyes beat Greenville by a 319.700-303.150 margin, improving on their team score from the first week by nearly four points. Spencer won both the parallel bars (13.950) and high bar (14.100) competitions and stuck both of his dismounts.
• On high bar, his score was 1.300 greater than the runner-up as Spencer performed a ‘Suarez’ skill – named after Ohio State associate head coach, Casimiro Suarez.
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• Spencer improved on both of his event scores from week one and now ranks fourth on high bar (13.750 average) and 17^th on parallel bars (13.275 average) in the nation. His high bar score this week (14.100) ties for the highest in the country so far this season.

Braden Wakey | Men’s Track & Field | Fr. | Carterville, Ill.

• Braden Wakey set four season highs at the Hoosier Horsepower Classic this past weekend.
• Wakey participated in four events – 60m hurdles (9.22), shot put (12.51m/41-00.50), high jump (1.94m/6-02.25) and long jump (6.27m/20-07.00).
• Wakey placed in the top 10 for both the long jump (eighth) and high jump (ninth).