Staff photo
Mary Katherine Malone, a 2024 Mountain Brook High School graduate, ran cross-country and track and field for the Spartans. She is now an Auburn student-athlete.
Mary Katherine Malone, a 2024 Mountain Brook High School graduate, will take center stage briefly at the NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four on Saturday.
Malone is a freshman cross-country and track and field athlete at Auburn University and is one of four people who sing the national anthem before the first game on Saturday evening at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
She was chosen to represent Auburn and sing the national anthem alongside a student-athlete from each of the other Final Four schools. The four will perform a quartet mere minutes before the tip-off between Auburn and Florida at 5:09 p.m.
Growing up, singing was a big part of Malone’s life, before cross-country and track and field exploits became a priority.
“It’s definitely been on the back-burner since running got the prime place in my life,” she said in an interview with Mountain Brook Schools Communications Director William Galloway.
Malone said she received an email prior to the Sweet 16, alerting everyone to the potential opportunity to represent the schools that reached the Final Four. Malone sang in last year’s Miss Olympian pageant at Mountain Brook High and used her performance from that as her audition tape. Hers was chosen.
“I found out right after the [Elite Eight] game on Sunday, and I was lucky enough to be there in person to get the text that I was representing Auburn at the Final Four. It’s super exciting.”
She was set to fly out to San Antonio on Thursday, with scheduled rehearsals Friday and Saturday before the performance.
The Alamodome has a stated capacity of over 73,000 people. The building will likely be close to full for the game Saturday, but Malone is trying to not let the nerves get to her.
“In my head, I’ll just be performing for Miss Olympian. I’ll just pretend it’s like that,” she said.
Auburn and Florida play first, with a matchup between Duke and Houston to follow on Saturday evening. The winners will play in the national championship game Monday at 7:50 p.m. All three games can be seen on CBS.
