The Dagen sisters are once again reunited for the 2023 season, as Lacy re-joins the Oregon State Beavers as a volunteer assistant coach for her sister Madi’s final year as a graduate student and all-arounder on the team.
For the two Pleasanton, California, natives, the journey in gymnastics began over 20 years ago at Pacific West in Fremont, California. Lacy was 4, and the 2-year-old Madi joined her soon after.
In 2009, the sisters began training across the bay at San Mateo Gymnastics, where they would earn their college commitments: Lacy signed to Florida for the 2015-16 season, and Madi signed to Oregon State for 2018-19.
Madi knew that she was going to be a Beaver from a young age. Colleges began recruiting her while she was still in middle school, and the minute she set foot on Oregon State’s campus, she knew that it was home.
The path was a little more complicated for Lacy, however. After advancing to the elite level in 2012 and committing to Florida, she stepped down to level 10 during her senior year of high school.
During the tail end of that senior year season, Lacy tore her ACL for the first time, and she entered her first season at Florida injured. Although she appeared to be on her way to recovery, she tore her ACL a second time that December, which took her out for the entirety of what would have been her freshman season.
Lacy finally competed her first collegiate routine—a vault at N.C. State—in January 2017. She scored a 9.850 to contribute to the Gators’ win that day, but she went on to tear her meniscus, requiring a third invasive knee surgery. By the end of that 2017 season, Lacy was feeling frustrated with gymnastics and missed having her family around, especially Madi. This influenced her decision to transfer to Oregon State and return to the west coast.
And she has fond memories of her time at Oregon State, despite the previous years of mental and physical exhaustion. “I will say to this day that I probably wouldn’t have been a gymnast anymore if it weren’t for Tanya and Michael [Chaplin],” said Lacy. In Corvallis, Lacy had the chance to build a strong support system as she worked toward recovery while also pursuing a degree in sociology.
Lacy returned to the competition lineup for the 2019 season, competing a vault at every meet that season. This was also the first season where she competed on beam, winning the event title with a 9.900 against California that February. But that win isn’t her favorite memory; that goes to her first time competing beam against UCLA. “I landed my dismount and before I could even turn to salute the judges, the team had tackled me—full on dogpile. We’re all just on the floor. Laughing, crying, celebrating all together. 100% [the] best moment in my career.”
She continued to consistently contribute to Oregon State’s vault and beam lineups in 2020, posting career highs and winning two individual beam titles before the season was cut short due to the pandemic. And then, due to the amount of time she had missed due to injury, Lacy was offered a sixth year as a Beaver gymnast in 2021 while she pursued her master’s degree in kinesiology, focusing on lower extremity injury prevention programs for gymnasts, before accepting a volunteer assistant coach position at UC Davis for the 2021-22 season.
While Lacy was in California, Madi served as team captain for Oregon State. She’s has been a strong athlete for the Beavers since her freshman season, competing at least 30 routines each season, and was named to the 2023 Pac-12 Preseason Watch List alongside 2020 Olympian Jade Carey.
And she’s an even stronger leader. According to Lacy, “She can be very sassy, but she’s very kind and loves to love people. So she is always there for her teammates and me and checks on the coaches even, she’s always there for others.”
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic cutting her sophomore season short, Madi was offered a fifth year. Outside of the gym, she is pursuing a Certificate in Leading and Creating Change, a newer program in Oregon State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, for which she is currently working on a podcast about mental health among student athletes.
That’s not her only option for the future, though. “Gymnastics has kind of been my whole life, and I dedicated my whole being to it. I’m excited [to figure] out what’s out there because I feel like I don’t even really know half of it.”
But she’s not looking too far to the future yet. “I really just want to enjoy this year. It wasn’t planned to come back for a fifth year always.” Madi said. “I really just want to take everything that comes with it and enjoy and have fun and be silly out there with my team.”
And Lacy is especially excited to witness it. After her year helping Davis to a record season, she was welcomed back to Oregon State with open arms. “Finishing out [Madi’s] last season as a gymnast together is so special, and my family’s very excited about it,” she said.
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Article by Winnie Ha
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