CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Freshman Brody Malone, the MPSF Gymnast of the Year, was named CGA Rookie of the Year at the annual College Men's Gymnastics NCAA Championships banquet on Thursday night. The banquet precedes the National Championship, which begins on Friday with pre-qualifyng sessions from the State Farm Center.
The @MPSFMensGym Gymnast of the Year @brody1700 can now add CGA National Rookie of the Year to his resume! #GoStanford pic.twitter.com/86umKkmOuS
— Stanford Gymnastics (@StanfordMGym) April 19, 2019
This marks the second year that the CGA has given out MVP, Rookie of the Year and Event Specialist awards. Malone was also a finalist for MVP, while David Jessen was a finalist for Specialist of the Year. Senior Grant Breckenridge was honored on Thursday as a finalist for the Nissen-Emery Award - which was eventually awarded to Oklahoma's Yul Moldauer.
In addition to the student-athlete awards, assistant coaches Syque Caesar and Karl Ziehn were named West Region Assistant Coaches of the Year. Caesar is currently in his fourth season with the Card, while Ziehn is concluding his seventh.
A post shared by Stanford Men's Gymnastics (@stanfordmensgymnastics) on Apr 18, 2019 at 8:37pm PDT
Malone is one of two gymnasts this year to record an all-around score of 85.000 or better, finishing with a mark of 85.250 on March 30. He enters the Championships ranked first in the nation in the all-around, averaging 84.225. The freshman phenom has won 13 event titles, including four all-arounds, four on high bar, two apiece on parallel bars and vault, and one on floor. In addition to the all-around, Malone ranks sixth nationally in high bar (14.100), seventh in parallel bars (14.188), eighth in vault (14.588), and top-25 in floor (18th, 14.150), rings (20th, 13.950) and pommel horse (20th, 13.563). A two-time CGA National Gymnast of the Week, Malone was a five-time CGA National Rookie of the Week, and a three-time MPSF Gymnast of the Week.
No. 2 Stanford has captured five NCAA titles, most recently taking home the hardware in 2011. The Cardinal also won it all in 1992, 1993, 1995 and 2009, with head coach Thom Glielmi at the helm of the two most recent championships. Meanwhile, Stanford Athletics has already claimed two NCAA championships in 2018-19, increasing its nation-leading all-time total to 119 thanks to victories in women's volleyball and women's swimming and diving.
The Cardinal has earned the No. 2 seed overall at the NCAA Championships, entering the meet with a 418.025 qualifying score. Stanford will be grouped with No. 3 Michigan (410.863), No. 6 Minnesota (406.525), No. 7 Nebraska (404.638), No. 10 Navy (400.738) and No. 11 California (398.788). Session I is set to begin at 11 a.m. PT.
Friday's other session, set for 5 p.m. PT, will feature four-time defending NCAA champion and No. 1 Oklahoma (421.163), No. 4 Illinois (410.125), No. 5 Penn State (409.138), No. 8 Iowa (403.350), No. 9 Ohio State (402.550) and No. 12 Army (395.100).
The top three teams from each preliminary session will advance to the finals session on Saturday, April 20. Action on Saturday is set to commence at 4 p.m. PT. Friday's rounds will be streamed live on NCAA.com and BTN2GO, while the Saturday final will be broadcast live on Big Ten Network.