STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – Freshman Asher Hong has been named CGA Rookie of the Year, it was announced at the annual College Gymnastics Association Awards Banquet on Thursday night.
The Rookie of the Year selection is the third in program history after Brody Malone (2019) and Brandon Briones (2020) were lauded in their inaugural campaigns.
Briones and fellow senior Riley Loos were also honored on Thursday at the banquet, recognized as finalists for the 2023 Nissen-Emery Award. The Nissen-Emery Award, presented to the nation's most outstanding senior gymnast, was awarded to Michigan's Paul Juda.
Hong had previously been named Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Gymnast of the Year, as well as the inaugural MPSF Freshman of the Year, prior to the MPSF Championships. The native of Tomball, Texas won the 2023 MPSF all-around and parallel bars titles en route to being named to the inaugural All-MPSF squad.
A member of the U.S. Senior National Team, Hong earned his spot after placing third overall in the all-around competition (81.948) on day one from the Winter Cup. He turned in the second-highest score on vault on day one (14.755), was third overall on horizontal bar (13.650), and fourth on still rings (14.133) and parallel bars (14.700).
Competing with Team USA, Hong helped guide the U.S. to a gold medal at the 2023 DTB Pokal Team Challenge and earned individual bronze on pommel horse (14.133). He had previously competed at the 2022 World Championships and finished sixth in the all-around final while helping the U.S. finish fifth as a team.
Hong enters the national championship weekend ranked first in the nation on still rings (14.575) and parallel bars (14.675), fifth on vault (14.638) and eighth on floor (14.138). He owns the nation's highest score on parallel bars (15.250), vault (15.150) and all-around (85.600), and has turned in the second-highest score on still rings (14.800). Among freshman gymnasts, Hong ranks first nationally on rings, parallel bars, floor and vault.
Hong has won 10 event titles this year, including four on parallel bars, two on still rings and the all-around, and one each on floor and vault.
No. 1 Stanford will compete for a fourth consecutive national championship this week, beginning with a national qualifying meet on Friday at 10 a.m. PT. Saturday's national championship meet is set for 3 p.m. PT.