STANFORD, Calif. - No. 1 Stanford men's gymnastics begins its quest for a record-breaking sixth consecutive NCAA championship, kicking off the 2025 campaign at the Cal Benefit Cup on Monday, Jan. 13.
The action begins at 7 p.m. PT inside Haas Pavilion, while fans can follow along with live scoring updates on Virti.us or on Twitter/X at @StanfordMGym.
RETURNING EXPERIENCE » Winners of each of the last five NCAA championships, Stanford brings back all but two members of last year's title-winning squad. The Cardinal returners include nine gymnasts who have combined for six individual national titles and 26 All-America honors, highlighting by reigning individual national champions Asher Hong and Khoi Young, as well as returning fifth-year seniors Jeremy Bischoff, Brandon Nguyen, and Colt Walker. Former All-Americans Brandon Briones and J.R. Chou are Stanford's only departures from 2024.
NATION'S TOP CLASS JOINS THE FARM » In addition to an abundance of championship experience returning to the program in 2025, Stanford welcomes another stellar incoming class to the team this season.
A group full of national team and international experience, the incoming freshman contingent included Xander Hong, Cooper Kim, Kiran Mandava, Wade Nelson, Marcus Pietarinen, and Kai Uemura.
"I am very excited to have this stellar incoming class joining us next season," Glielmi said. "Several of this class, Kai, Cooper, Xander, and Kiran have been on the USA Junior National Team, which bodes well for their preparedness moving into the senior ranks. Marcus brings tremendous international experience competing for his home country of Finland, and seeing Wade's progress this year shows he will also be vying for a national team spot."
THE DYNASTY CONTINUES » The Cardinal became just the second program in NCAA history (Nebraska to win its fifth consecutive NCAA championship last season, pulling away in the fifth of sixth rotations to score 425.324 to runner-up Michigan's 419.689 inside Ohio State's Covelli Center. It was Stanford's highest team score since beginning its national title streak in 2019.
Leading the Cardinal was Asher Hong, who captured an incredible three individual titles – on vault (15.266), parallel bars (15.100), and rings (14.966) -- and Khoi Young, who captured the all-around championship with 86.098 points.
With the all-around crown, Young became the fifth different Stanford gymnast to win an NCAA all-around title and the ninth overall crown by a Cardinal. Previous all-around champions from Stanford were Steve Hug (1972-74), Jon Louis (1986), Akash Modi (2015, 2017), and Brody Malone (2019, 2021).
It was the Cardinal's 10th NCAA men's gymnastics championship in school history, winning each national title since 2019 (there was no NCAA championship in 2020). The others were won in 1992, 1993, 1995, 2009, and 2011.
ELITE EIGHT » In addition, Stanford brought home an impressive haul of 13 All-America honors between eight individual gymnasts in 2024. Young led the way with four honors in all-around, parallel bars, pommel horse, and vault. Hong became an All-American in each of his three title-winning events, while Colt Walker, Jeremy Bischoff, Mark Berlaga, Arun Chhetri, J.R. Chou, and Brandon Nguyen each earned recognition in one event.
Of the Cardinal's class of honorees, Arun Chhetri was the only athlete to become an All-American for the first time in his career. Stanford has now tallied 81 different individual All-Americans in program history, garnering 307 total honors.
NISSEN-EMERY WINNER » The Nissen-Emery award, the highest honor in college gymnastics, made its return to The Farm in 2024 as Colt Walker became Stanford's seventh recipient of the award this season.
Walker joins Brody Malone (2022), Akash Modi (2017), Eddie Penev (2013), Dan Gill (2004), Josh Stein (1995) and Steve Hug (1974) in the list of Cardinal winners, and is the fifth honoree under head coach Thom Glielmi.
Walker has enjoyed a decorated career at Stanford as a four-time NCAA championship team member and a three-time MPSF conference team champion. Individually, Walker was a two-time NCAA All-American on parallel bars (2022, 2024) and a two-time All-MPSF honoree.
CONFERENCE DOMINANCE » Stanford won the MPSF conference championship for the third consecutive season in 2024, posting a season-high 422.700 to knock off host Oklahoma, California, and Air Force. It was the Cardinal's ninth conference championship in program history, with seven of them coming under the MPSF banner.
It was a back-and-forth affair between the nation's top two programs, as Stanford jumped out to an early lead fueled by a 72.100 vault score in the opening rotation. Oklahoma climbed back to take the lead after four rotations with solid performances on still rings and vault, but Cardinal performed at its best down the stretch with season-best scores on pommel horse (71.950) and still rings (70.750) to prevail with the meet victory.
Following the meet, Jeremy Bischoff, Arun Chhetri, Asher Hong, Luke McFarland, Colt Walker, and Khoi Young were all named All-MPSF team selections. Asher Hong was also named MPSF Gymnast of the Year, his second consecutive season receiving the award.
TWO CARDINAL CLAIM OLYMPIC BRONZE » The United States returned to the Olympic medal stand in Paris this past summer, as Asher Hong and alum Brody Malone helped Team USA claim bronze for its first team medal since 2008.
Team USA scored a 257.793 during Monday's competition, finishing behind Japan (259.594) and China (259.062).
Asher Hong was consistently great in the team final, scoring in the 14's in each of his four events. After finishing just outside the top 8 on still rings and vault as an individual during the qualification round, Hong posted 14.533 and 14.833 routines in those events, respectively, to help propel USA into the medal hunt. The Tomball, Texas native also posted a 14.133 on floor exercise and closed out his Olympics with a 14.400 on parallel bars.
Hong and Malone become just the 2nd and 3rd Olympic medalists in program history, joining 1996 parallel bars silver medalist Jair Lynch.