STANFORD, Calif. - Stanford captured College Gymnastics Association (CGA) Rookie of the Year honors for the second consecutive season, as freshman Brandon Briones was lauded by the organization on Tuesday.
Briones joins sophomore Brody Malone as Cardinal who have garnered the award. With consecutive selections, Stanford has now won the award in two of the three years it has been presented.
Following a standout freshman campaign, Briones garnered two All-America honors, earning a spot in the all-around and on vault. The native of Gilbert, Ariz. finished the year ranked first nationally among freshmen in the all-around (82.633), second on vault (14.617), still rings (13.883), parallel bars (13.883) and high bar (13.600), and fourth on floor exercise (14.000). Overall, Briones placed third in the all-around, sixth on vault, ninth on still rings and 10th on parallel bars.
Briones, who captured 10 event titles during his inaugural season, registered the highest all-around (85.300) and still rings score (14.900) in the nation this year. He also managed the second-best high bar score and third-highest floor score. A four-time CGA Rookie of the Week, Briones nabbed three MPSF Gymnast of the Week honors and a pair of CGA Gymnast of the Week selections.
The Cardinal finished the season ranked first in the nation on parallel bars (69.333), still rings (69.017) and vault (73.117), second on floor (70.067) and high bar (67.167), and fourth on pommel horse (66.417). The Cardinal entered and finished the year ranked No. 1 in the nation, and Stanford's average team score of 414.783 was more than four points better than Oklahoma's second-place average of 410.133.
Including Briones' two selections, eight different Stanford gymnasts combined for a program-record 16 All-America honors this year. The 16 selections eclipsed the previous Stanford record of 15 from 2008 and 2019, and were also the most in the nation this year, with Michigan taking second with eight.