Brandon Wynn knew everyone was aiming for him, as if he were a chalk-spattered gunfighter who must defend his honor by wielding still rings instead of a pistol.

In other words, the Ohio State senior gymnast was in his element on the final night of the three-day NCAA championship meet.

“He takes a lot of pride in that,” OSU co-head coach Blaine Wilson said. “He enjoys and thrives on knowing he can come in and get it done.”

Wynn did just that last night at St. John Arena and became the first Buckeye to win consecutive NCAA championships on the still rings since Wilson, a three-time Olympian, did so in 1996 and ’97.

The OSU senior’s methodical score of 16.000 wasn’t his career-high, but good enough for his 21st consecutive win in that event since September 2009.

“He was awesome, as always,” OSU co-coach Doug Stibel said. “He showed he’s clearly the best guy in the country on rings. He shows it week in and week out.”

Wynn, a member of the past two U.S. national teams, is aiming for the 2012 London Olympics, but all he wanted to do last night was relish the moment after the chalk settled on his final collegiate meet.

“There is nothing better than the feeling I have right now,” said Wynn, who last year won a U.S. championship on rings and was the top American finisher in that event when he placed 10th at the World Championships in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Besides winning another NCAA title on the rings, Wynn competed in two other events last night and earned All-America honors by finishing in the top eight. His score of 14.450 placed him eighth on the horizontal bar, and he tied for eighth on the parallel bars with a score of 14.250.

Wynn, a native of Voorhees, N.J., finished the NCAA meet with four All-America honors after he tied for fifth in the all-around competition on Friday. He finished his OSU career as a six-time All-American.

The Columbus Dispatch

The sight is mesmerizing, almost magical.

A man is suspended nearly 10 feet in the air, grasping a ring in each hand, arms outstretched, body parallel to the floor, an airplane in human form.

“It looks like you’re floating,” Brandon Wynn said.

He knows that sensation, as well as the pain that comes from preparation and performance on the rings in gymnastics.

Last year, Wynn won a U.S. championship on rings and was the top American finisher in that event when he placed 10th at the World Championships. The Ohio State senior is aiming to make the 2012 U.S. Olympic team.

First up is the NCAA men’s championship from Thursday through Saturday in St. John Arena, where Wynn hopes to win his second consecutive NCAA title in rings.

Wynn is good enough at vault, high bar, parallel bars, pommel horse and floor exercise to have been a member of the past two U.S. national teams, but one event defines his reputation.

“He’s our top guy on the rings,” said Dennis McIntyre, men’s program director for USA Gymnastics.

One look at Wynn and you know why. It appears Marvel comics sketched the native of Voorhees, N.J. His muscles have muscles.

“Brandon Wynn is a specimen,” said OSU co-head coach Blaine Wilson, a three-time Olympian. “The front part of his shoulders is so big, his back goes forward.”

Gymnasts call it gorilla posture, all the better to meet the grueling sport’s demands. And the rings test a gymnast’s strength like no other event.

They’re suspended for about 30 seconds in a routine, and must perform swings, handstands and cross positions. Each strength move is required to be held for at least two seconds.

“It’s just brute strength,” Wynn said, “when you’re doing these maneuvers.”

Practice makes muscles

Strangers often ask Wynn if he’s a bodybuilder or a wrestler. They assume someone with such a huge chest and arms must live in a weight room.

“I’ve never lifted weights,” said Wynn, who this month became the first OSU gymnast to win a Big Ten championship on the rings in consecutive years.

Wynn does occasionally use small free weights for conditioning and maintenance, but like all gymnasts, his strength and physique come primarily from practicing routines.

“The only thing that’s going to get you stronger on the rings is to do the rings,” said Raj Bhavsar, a former OSU gymnast and member of the 2008 U.S. Olympic team.

They call it “ring strength,” and Wynn gets his by working on the rings two or three times a week, sometimes while wearing a 30-pound weight vest.

“Brandon can easily hold his own with the rest of the world on ring strength,” said Wilson, considered America’s top rings performer during his 11-year career on the U.S. national team.

Strength has been a necessary part of excelling at the rings since the Germans created the event (using triangular-shaped handles instead of rings) in the early 1800s.

Grace is needed to hold still the rings and wires, but the demands of muscle trump intricacy.

“I don’t know what the human limit is, but gymnasts are starting to push it as far as what the body can endure,” said Bhavsar, the 2002 NCAA all-around champion.

Strength moves, however, can captivate crowds.

“There’s a little bit of amazement for people,” McIntyre said, “when they see an athlete hold himself in a position that most of them don’t understand how they got there.”

Tough on the body

Tedious hours on the rings have led Wynn to defend his NCAA title this week with a routine burned into muscle memory.

“A strength sequence is practiced over and over again,” he said. “In an Olympic year, I probably do the sequence over 1,000 times.”

Wynn hasn’t had any injuries specifically because of the rings, but others have fallen prey to the event’s wear and tear.

There are moments during a routine on the rings when a gymnast is putting a strain on his shoulders that is seven to eight times the weight of his body.

“The amount of pressure you’re pushing through, the torque and the turn on the shoulders is a lot,” Wilson said. “It’s not normal for the human body to be doing stuff like that.”

He knows. He’s had five shoulder surgeries.

“Just maintenance,” he called them.

Wilson, now three years into retirement at age 36, was competing on the rings in February 2004 when he suddenly knew something was wrong with his left biceps.

“Take that little tendon on the end of a chicken leg and rip it off the bone,” he said. “That’s what I thought of when I did it. I could feel it tearing.”

Surgeons repaired his left biceps with a titanium wire, and six months later Wilson helped the U.S. win the team silver medal at the Athens Olympics.

“If I tried to do rings now, I would probably tear everything,” Wilson said. “I can probably still hold a cross if I had to, but I’m not training those muscles anymore.”

Instead, he’s content tutoring America’s latest lord of the rings for yet another challenge in this week’s NCAA championships.

Only the strong will survive.

Big Ten Network

Miles Avery, Ohio State men’s gymnastics coach, has resigned his position to pursue other opportunities, effective immediately, Heather Lyke, associate athletics director for sport administration, announced Wednesday.  Current Assistant Coaches Blaine Wilson will serve as Interim Co-Head Coach along with Doug Stibel for the remainder of the 2010-11 season.

Ohio State welcomed Wilson, a three-time Olympian, who moved into a full-time assistant coaching position for the Buckeyes prior to the 2009-10 season after working with the team as a volunteer assistant coach for a combined seven campaigns, in two different stints, most recently in the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons after being with the team from 2000-05.

As a coach, Wilson has brought a wealth of knowledge and lighthearted demeanor to the gym, helping guide the Buckeyes to their third National Championship in 2001 along with three Top 3 finishes (2002, ‘03 and ‘05).   He was on staff when the Buckeyes won Big Ten Conference titles in 2002 and ’05.

The most decorated Buckeye in program history, Wilson recorded giant landmarks on each level of competition.  A native of Columbus, Ohio, Wilson helped establish Ohio State as one of the premiere collegiate programs in both the Big Ten and the nation, competing from 1994-97.

While competing for the Buckeyes Wilson captured six NCAA individual titles and helped Ohio State to its second of three National Championship titles in 1996, in addition to three Big Ten crowns (1994, ’96 and ’97).

Owner of 11 Big Ten individual titles, including three All-Around Championship crowns, Wilson became the first Buckeye to receive the conference’s Rookie of the Year honor in 1994.  The standout went on to garner the Big Ten Gymnast of the Year honor in 1995, ’96 and ’97.  Twice in his college career, Wilson was recognized as the OSU Male Athlete of the Year.

Nationally, Wilson secured five-consecutive U.S. National Championship All-Around titles (1996-200) and earned the Silver Medal in the team competition at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens and was a member of the U.S. Men’s Gymnastics Olympic team for the 1996 Atlanta Games and 2000 Sydney Games.

“We appreciate everything Coach Avery has done to keep Ohio State as one of the elite men’s gymnastics programs in the nation,” Lyke said. “He has built traditions, sustained success and positively impacted the lives of our student-athletes, developing them into leaders academically, athletically and personally. We are grateful for his service to Buckeye Nation and wish him the best as he moves forward.”

A national search for the permanent head coach, chaired by Lyke, will be conducted following the 2011 season.

Gold Medal Greetings (GMG) announces the launch of a new service offering custom telephone greetings from some of the most famous and decorated names in the sport of gymnastics. Customers can order a pre-recorded message from a gymnastics celebrity as a gift to be delivered via telephone on the day and time of their selection.

World-class athletes who have triumphed at the highest levels of the sport are included in the program. Gold Medal Greetings has signed a world-class roster of charter athletes including Olympic Champions Shawn Johnson, Shannon Miller, Carly Patterson and Paul Hamm, Olympic medalist Jonathan Horton, World Champion and Olympian Chellsie Memmel, and three-time Olympian Blaine Wilson.

In addition to standard messages, a CustomCall option will also be available for customers to personalize the celebrity greeting with a personal message. Greetings delivered in the U.S. are $8.99 and $9.99 for International and CustomCalls. A portion from each order goes to the charity of the athlete’s choosing.

“Gold Medal Greetings helps spark the celebration of favorite days and occasions throughout the year,” said Tanya Jacoby, spokesperson for Gold Medal Greetings.

“Imagine when a young gymnast gets a good luck greeting from one of their favorite gymnasts just before a meet – talk about a boost of motivation! And we’re excited to offer this one-of-a-kind gift just in time for the holidays!”

Greeting options from the celebrities that can be ordered include: Happy Birthday, Good Luck, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Get Well, Happy Mother’s Day, Happy Father’s Day, Happy Valentine’s Day or Happy Anniversary.

Gold Medal Greetings has also partnered with Atlanta-based Inside Publications as the exclusive marketing launch partner. Inside Publications produces Inside Gymnastics magazine and Inside Cheerleading magazine along with the websites for both titles. The two companies will jointly promote the services.

“We are extremely excited to be a part of the launch of Gold Medal Greetings,” said Shane Womack, Director of Marketing for Inside Publications. “Kids across the country look up to these athletes and will be thrilled to receive a phone call from a role model. One of the things that most appealed to us in being involved with Gold Medal Greetings is the fact that a portion of the revenue from every call is donated to the gymnasts’ charity of choice. It’s a great message not only now during the holiday season, but throughout the year.”