Gymnastics Champions Look for Help

Mike Willson, Ohio State’s gymnastics coach, has finished celebrating his team’s triumph in the NCAA championships and is looking for the gymnasts who could bring the school another national title.

“Yeah, I guess you could say I’ve come off the high and am back to the everyday routine,” Willson said in the team’s training gym. “I’ve been out recruiting since the Wednesday after we won the title and have already signed our first two recruits for next year--Tony Fatta of Lancaster, Pa., and Carlton Noble. We’ll be signing more in the next couple of weeks.

“Winning the national title certainly didn’t hurt recruiting, for I’ve had people we’re looking at calling me after we won the NCAAs and say they were ready to sign. That’s one very positive sign. It also appears we’ll have walk-ons trying out next year for the first time, and this may not have happened if we had not been so successful this year.”

The Buckeyes finished undefeated in dual and triangular meets this season, won the Big Ten Conference title and drew a school-record 5,000 people for a meet against Penn State, which was ranked No. 1 at the time.

“We definitely felt all year that we could win the national championship if things went right, and the big crowd against Penn State gave us a lot of extra incentive that night,” Willson said. “However, many of our best gymnasts were injured at one time or another, and that gave us enough obstacles to overcome to keep us from feeling really confident.”

The Buckeyes led the NCAA meet at Lincoln, Neb., from the beginning, but it took a 9.9 performance by Robert Playter on the high bar, the final event of the competition, to clinch the title.