Maize and Blue to Hit the Road for Rival Ohio State

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 4-ranked University of Michigan men's gymnastics team (9-1, 2-0 B1G) will head to Columbus, Ohio, to face rival No. 5 Ohio State at 6 p.m. on Monday (March 16) at the Covelli Center. The meet will be streamed live on B1G+.

Notes

• The Wolverines are on a four-meet winning streak, topping Penn State 326.250-311.550 on March 7. Michigan took control of the meet early, establishing a nearly six-point lead over PSU after the second rotation and never looking back. The Nittany Lions were plagued by falls throughout the meet and notched two event scores under 50 points, allowing the Wolverines to win by nearly 15 points. U-M posted season-high scores on floor exercise (55.700), parallel bars (53.600) and high bar (54.450), while tying its season high on vault (56.050). The Maize and Blue won all six event titles and swept the podium on floor, with five Wolverines posting career highs.

• Charlie Larson picked up a pair of titles for the second straight meet, winning floor (14.450) and vault (14.600), while Aaronson Mansberger won his fifth pommel horse title of the season (13.800) and Akshay Puri claimed his fourth still rings title (14.100). Fred Richard earned his second parallel bars title of the season, and Pierce Wolfgang won high bar with a career-high 14.000 for his first event title of the season.

• The Wolverines improved to No. 4 in the team rankings after posting a season-high score against the Nittany Lions. The team remains at No. 2 on pommel horse (54.250), just 0.683 points behind nation-leading Oklahoma (54.933), seventh on floor (52.873) and eighth on parallel bars (51.250), while sitting fifth on still rings (52.983) and fourth on vault (55.233) and high bar (52.100).

• Larson is fifth in the NCAA and first in the Big Ten on floor exercise (13.883) after back-to-back season highs. Mansberger is fifth in the nation and second in the conference on pommel horse (14.083), with his 14.900 at the Ohio State Open marking the second-highest score of the season. Puri sits ninth on still rings with an average score of 13.617, just 0.333 points behind No. 1 Nick Kuebler (13.950) of Stanford. Richard is second on parallel bars (13.817) and sits just 0.216 points behind nation-leading Nathan Roman of Oklahoma (14.033).

• Ohio State is 8-3 (2-0 B1G) and is on a three-meet winning streak. The team's last loss came at Oklahoma on Feb. 7 (317.700-328.650). The Buckeyes topped Illinois 316.200-313.900 in their last meet, taking the still rings, vault and parallel bars titles.

• Ohio State is ranked fifth overall with an average score of 317.350, 0.983 points behind the Wolverines. The team is sixth on floor (52.950), pommel horse (52.667) and still rings (52.650), third on vault (55.550), seventh on parallel bars (52.317) and third on high bar (52.350).

• Parker Thackston ranks seventh on pommel horse (13.917), posting the nation's best score of 15.300 in February, and Jacob Harmon is seventh on high bar (13.433). Jesse Pakele is eighth on still rings (13.633) and 10th on parallel bars (13.467), while David Ramirez is 10th on vault (14.050) and seventh on parallel bars (13.467).

• This is the second meeting between the teams this season, with the Maize and Blue winning the Ohio State Open on Jan. 18 with a score of 315.800. OSU finished second (311.300), topping Greenville (307.450) and Illinois (307.100).

• Michigan and Ohio State are undefeated in conference competition, while Nebraska holds a 2-1 Big Ten record after defeating Illinois on March 14. All three teams are in the hunt for the regular-season conference title, with the winner to be determined during the final weekend of the regular season. If either the Wolverines or Buckeyes win out, they will be the outright winner. A possible three-way tie between Michigan, Ohio State and Nebraska would be broken by score differentials.

• The Wolverines will close out the regular season at home, hosting Nebraska on March 22 at 2 p.m. at Cliff Keen Arena. The meet will be streamed live on B1G+ and the program's seniors will be honored following the conclusion of the meet.