Buckeyes and Olympians reunite at first NCAA gymnastics championship meet at Covelli
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — When some of the nation’s best in men’s gymnastics competed on the campus of Ohio State for a national championship, the meet proved to be about much more than a competition.
While there were plenty of trophies at stake, the first-ever NCAA championship meet at the Covelli Center was also a reunion of sorts for some former Buckeyes who became Olympians. And more importantly, it was a celebration of the past and the present.
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The two-day meet marked the fifth time in program history, and the first since 2016 at St. John Arena, that Ohio State men’s gymnastics had a home crowd to compete for a national championship.
“This. This arena. This place. This family. The people in the stands, my team. It’s why I came back,” Buckeyes graduate gymnast Donovan Hewitt said. “It’s super cool for me.”
And among the many Buckeye alumni in the stands at Covelli was Tokyo 2020 Olympian Alec Yoder.
“It’s great. This is the first time that I’ve been back to Columbus in the past two years since I moved so for us to be out here, supporting the guys at NCAAs tonight is pretty special,” Yoder said.
The 2019 NCAA champion in pommel horse, Yoder is glad the competitive chapter of his life is behind him. But he doesn’t mind a trip down memory lane.
“I come back and look at it from this lens and it’s cool to remember what it was like,” Yoder said. “So I tell them to enjoy it, have fun and leave it all out there.”
Yoder wasn’t the only former Buckeye back on campus. Three-time Olympian and Columbus native Blaine Wilson presented some of the trophies for this year’s meet, which brought back his own fond memories of victory.
“In all the meets that I can say that I’m proud of, it’s winning a national championship here in 1996 with my team at The Ohio State University,” Wilson said. “That resonates I think way more than, for me, the Olympic Games.”
Ohio State finished sixth in the team competition thanks in part to the performances of five gymnasts who became All-Americans at the meet. But Buckeyes past and present weren’t the only ones that enjoyed Covelli as a championship venue. Just ask Thom Glielmi, the head coach of Stanford, which captured its fifth consecutive NCAA title.
“This venue is phenomenal. This should be the Omaha of men’s gymnastics, like what Omaha is for baseball because this is great. Great facility,” Glielmi said. “And they did a phenomenal job hosting.”
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