After a successful meet against Air Force on Feb. 25, the UCSB men’s gymnastics team hopes to continue to rise to the occasion for a dual meet with #3 Ohio State tonight at 7 in Rob Gym.

As a result of the Gauchos outstanding score of 197.350 that placed them second in the triple meet, their latest meet proved to be triumphant. Sophomore Geoffrey Howell, who is currently ranked 11th in the nation, led Santa Barbara. Howell recorded a first-place tally for the parallel bars with a score of 8.80 and finished with an all-around score of 49.150.

Freshman Andre Badilla also performed well for UCSB while competing in the vault event, garnishing a first-place score of 8.90. Sophomore Daniel Levine finished second all around in the triple meet.

The Gauchos are looking forward to competing against the Buckeyes and hope their strong performance last week will propel them tonight.

“[The team is] loaded mentally and physically,” UCSB Head Coach Mircea Badulescu said. “We want to do great and keep up the same way. … We are very focused.”

Santa Barbara is also strongly concentrating on its technique and routines.

“At this point in the season, we all have our routines down, so now it’s just a matter of perfecting them and smoothing all the rough edges,” Howell said. “We’re mainly focused on hitting our routines as a team and keeping the team spirit strong.”

Although Ohio State is considered one of the top squads in the nation, the Gauchos will try and continue to keep a positive attitude against the Buckeyes.

“We are pushing really hard,” junior team captain Michael Kelley said. “We are competing against ourselves [in practice] and there is really no pressure. … This year we are training harder than the last two years. … Intensity is up.”