STANFORD, Calif. – In a meet of elites that figures to be highly entertaining and hotly contested, No. 2 Stanford entertains No. 4 Ohio State on Saturday at 4 p.m. on Senior Night at Maples Pavilion.
The Cardinal will honor its four-member senior class of Jacob Barrus, Drew Burton, Robert Neff and Ryan Sheppard. The senior quartet has contributed greatly to Stanford's success during their careers, helping lead the Cardinal to a pair of runner-up finishes at the NCAA Championships.
Combined, the teams have student-athletes ranked in the top 10 in all six events, headed by Cardinal standout Robert Neff and the Buckeyes' Sean Melton. Neff leads in all-around and has a high score of 83.450, while Melton sets the pace on still rings with a top mark of 15.150. Neff also ranks second on the high bar, scoring a season-best 14.550 and is ninth on the pommel horse (14.300).
Other Stanford athletes ranked in the top 10 include Connor Lewis (8) on floor exercise (14.550), Blake Sun (4) on parallel bars (14.400), Ryan Shephard (5) and Andrew Bitner (9) in all-around (82.050/80.600), and Connor Lewis (8) on vault (14.550).
The Ohio State trio of Melton, Chris Coombs (14.800) and Alex Yoder (14.700) rank 1-4-5 in the country on still rings.
The Cardinal leads the nation on floor with an average of 69.058, and ranks second on parallel bars (68.758), fourth on high bar (66.450) and fourth on vault (70.842).
The Buckeyes rank No. 1 on still rings (69.040), third on pommel horse (67.000) and high bar (66.850), and fourth on parallel bars (67.880).
Stanford is coming off an impressive victory last week in the International Collegiate Challenge at Burnham Pavilion, and has finished first in five of its last six meets. Competing against reigning Olympic champion, Japan, the national team from Canada, and top 15 squads Michigan, Illinois and Cal, the Cardinal posted a score of 410.700, its second-highest point total of the season.
Saturday marks the final home dual meet of the season for Stanford. It will be live streamed on Pac-12 Plus, and live scoring can be found at GoStanford.com.
