After taking a comfortable lead in the all-around Thursday, Brody Malone deleted the Instagram app from his phone. The Stanford junior hoped to win a U.S. gymnastics championship with a repeat performance Saturday, and the last thing he needed was the cacophony of social media.
It took something a little more drastic to quiet the voices in his head. When Malone fell on his first event, parallel bars, he chased away the anxiety with an extra dose of concentration. He regrouped with a spectacular high-bar routine and kept right on going, winning his first U.S. senior all-around title at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.
Former Gophers gymnast Shane Wiskus was in second place until a series of hard falls on his final routine dropped him to ninth. Wiskus lost his grip on the high bar during an early release move and crashed to the mat. He got back up, tried again and fell twice more before finishing the routine.
Wiskus was able to attend the post-meet awards ceremony, where he was named USA Gymnastics' Sportsman of the Year. He also earned the silver medal on parallel bars and placed fourth on floor exercise.
Malone finished with a total two-day score of 170.700, well clear of second-place Yul Moldauer (167.950). Six-time U.S. all-around champion Sam Mikulak, who stood seventh after a rough first night of competition, rallied to take third with a score of 167.400.
"The nerves were definitely there," said Malone, who added the national title to his two NCAA all-around crowns. "P-bars was definitely a rough start. But that was the kick in the butt I needed to focus back in and finish out the rest of the meet.
"My goal was to hit all six routines both days and let the scores fall where they fall. I didn't accomplish that, but I feel like the rest of the meet went well. I'm pretty happy with the outcome."
Malone also won the U.S. title on vault, while Mikulak earned the high-bar championship and Moldauer captured the parallel bars title. Other event champions were Eddie Penev (floor exercise), Stephen Nedoroscik (pommel horse) and Alex Diab (rings).
The top athletes from the championships will move on to the Olympic trials June 24-27 in St. Louis. Performances at the trials will determine the four-man team, as well as a fifth athlete who will compete individually in Tokyo.
Wiskus entered Saturday's competition in fourth place but quickly moved into second by nailing his opening event, floor exercise. Malone started in opposite fashion. During a handstand on parallel bars, his arm buckled, and he fell to the floor.
Though Malone earned only a 12.700 for the routine, he stayed atop the all-around standings. He sailed through a difficult routine on high bar for a score of 15.050, the highest in any event Saturday.
Malone and Wiskus remained 1-2 until the final event. At that point, Wiskus led third-place Moldauer by .200. Moldauer finished with an outstanding parallel bars routine that gave him the event title and left Wiskus needing a score of 14.600 on high bar to beat out Moldauer for second place.
Wiskus appeared shaken after his first fall but rechalked his hands and continued the routine. He did the same after his second fall, and his third.
Wiskus' coach, Kostya Kolesnikov, was named senior men's coach of the year. Kolesnikov, who coaches Wiskus at the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic training center, is a former Gophers assistant coach who left the program last winter after the U announced men's gymnastics would be cut.
The Star Tribune did not travel for this event. This article was written using the television broadcast and video interviews after the competition.
