BREAKING: Grace Anne & Lauren announce return to Mizzou Gymnastics

It was repeatedly hinted at the team’s banquet on Saturday that news was coming about “some returners” on Monday. And when the seniors were called up to talk about the season and two were conspicuously absent (well, one was at her brother’s graduation, I was told), it sent excited whispers through the room.

My table asked Shannon, “So…. ummm… we noticed that [person] wasn’t up there with the seniors. Does that mean…?!” To which he gave us a shrug and was basically like, “Well, I guess you’ll have to see….”

This coach is always keeping things from me, you guys. NOT COOL. (I kid.)

Fellow gymthusiast Nate Salsman and I had thought the return of one of them — we’ll call her Achilles Twin 1 — was very likely to happen, as her Senior Day festivities didn’t seem too… final, I guess you could say. And I tkept thinking, you transferred out here for your final year of gymnastics just to have an injury halt your career and then call it quits? Without us getting to watch her beautiful gymnastics? I hated to see it. The other — we’ll call her Achilles Twin 2 — we were less certain about. Until about a month ago, I started seeing some beam videos pop up on her IG stories, and it got me wondering, is she coming back, too? Why else is she on the beam? Just for funsies? After all, Helen Hu decided on a return not long after hopping up on a beam and doing a routine just for funsies last summer, so seeing someone back on an apparatus again will forever spark curiosity.

Well, as promised, on Monday the news dropped that Lauren Macpherson (Achilles Twin 1) and Grace Anne Davis (Achilles Twin 2) will return to Mizzou Gymnastics on their final year of eligibility. It has massive positive repercussions for this team.

But first, I encourage you to check out their cute lil’ video. Such personality, the Mizzou Gym team.

Lauren Macpherson

Welcome back, Lauren! The last time we saw Lauren Macpherson compete was December’s Black & Gold meet where she won the all-around, scoring a 9.90 on beam, and 9.85s on vault (with a stick!), bars and floor. Her upcoming season was looking so promising, which is why Mizzou fans and the gymternet alike were traumatized to learn that she would be out all season after observing her wheeling around on a scooter during Week One’s Beauty & The Beast meet. An achilles injury. Yikes.

But she’s back and she’s healed, and we are EXCITED.

Rather than redo this whole thing, I thought I’d save some time by copy/pasting some of my transfer piece from over the summer. You can check it out in its entirety here.

When San Jose State grad transfer Lauren Macpherson committed back in June of 2024, the gymternet was screaming about what a good pickup this was. Macpherson, a 5-foot-1 grad student from Gilbert, Ariz., arrived in the offseason from San Jose State, where she earned First Team All-Conference seven times and Second Team honors three times in both the Mountain Pacific (MPSF) and the Mountain West conferences, while also qualifying for NCAA Regionals three times as an all-around competitor. The 2024 Mountain West Beam Specialist of the Year was also awarded First Team All-Mountain West in All-Around and Beam and Second Team honors on floor, and now looks to make some noise now as a part of the vaunted SEC.

CGN Analysis when she committed:

“Lauren Macpherson was such a steady competitor for San Jose State during her four years, and I for one am excited to see her at Missouri and to finally get recognition for what she brings to gymnastics.” -Savanna

With the loss of 4/6 of the no. 4 ranked bars squad and 3/7 of the no. 11 ranked beam team, adding another 9.925 bars (9.830 NQS) and 9.95 beam worker (9.905 NQS, 1st in Mtn W) into the mix is seismic. LMac also is a good FX’er, scoring a 9.925 twice (9.880 NQS), so that’s also an option, though not quite as needed due to the very deep floor rotation that only contained two graduates (Joci & Amari).

In my Too Early Beam Lineup Predictions in August, I touted LMac as the new “Beam Queen,” as she scored under 9.825 just twice in 2024 (9.775, 8.975— a fall in the NCAA Regional Round I), and the rest of the time? Consistent as hell. She scored five 9.825, two 9.85, a 9.875, 9.90, two 9.925, and a 9.950 in late February 2024.

In my Too Early Bars Lineup Predictions, I also fully expected to see her in bars lineups, recording two 9.90 scores and a career-high 9.925 to go with four scores 9.80 and above in the 2024 season.

A few fun skills Lauren incorporates is a Tkatchev (Jocelyn Moore’s high-flying skill that always wows the announcers for its enormous height), as well as a blind full turn into a FTDT (full-twisting double tuck) dismount. You can watch here.

Grace Anne Davis

The wearer of the tiger slippers returns (and my vote for the Spirit Award)! Nate and I watched Grace Anne in multiple intrasquads absolutely KILLING it on vault, and that was one of many reasons we were stunned to learn of her achilles injury. She was looking phenomenal. Per my research-laden Too Early Vault Preview, GAD was a regular in the vault lineup in 2024, recording 11 scores at 9.80 or better, including four at 9.85 or better, while earning just two at 9.775 or lower (9.775 & 9.65 once each). Historically speaking, Davis showed improvement in 2024, as she tied her 9.875 career high set in 2022 against #3 LSU, and her NQS and average were both career highs. She’s got a ton of power, and if the achilles is a go, I expect to see her in at least some lineups, though I can’t say for certain if she’ll be a mainstay in 2026.

Beam was the best of GAD’s events, and the one I’m most excited about. From my August Too Early Beam Preview, I talked about how Grace Anne reached career-highs on beam in 2024 across the board and was one of the Tigers’ most consistent beamers over the last two years. In 2024, GAD earned four scores of 9.90 or above, a couple 9.85s, a trio of 9.80s and five scores 9.75 or below, only one of which was a fall. In fact, Grace Anne has recorded just two falls in the past two years of competition!

Here’s a snippet of Davis’s routine, which features college gymnastics’ best gainer full off the side of the beam.

Combined with the surprise (to us, anyway) commitment of Illinois grad transfer Makayla Green, whom I wrote about on Sunday evening, this team suddenly got a helluva lot deeper. And that’s saying something as they already had a lot of depth.

Here’s how the roster stacks up as of right now. We do expect to see another transfer or two, though the number of transfers I think will ultimately depend upon what’s decided in the House settlement, which is currently at odds due to.. you guessed it.. roster management. Should the expected number hold up, then they’ve got one spot left, barring any other roster defections (both Kylie Minard and Courtney Woods previously announced their intent to transfer).

Stay tuned for more Gym news here at Rock M. I suspect we’ll be hearing more news very soon.

WELCOME BACK, LAUREN AND GRACE ANNE!!!! #MIZ