DAVIS, Calif. -- An All-Pac-12 Conference honoree and perennial Scholastic All-American at both Florida and Oregon State, Lacy Dagen returns to Northern California to join the UC Davis women's gymnastics staff as a volunteer assistant coach. She replaces Tamara Ross, who will remain with the Aggies in a non-coaching role.

Dagen marks the third new member of the UC Davis gymnastics staff under head coach John Lavallee in the past 12 months. Cal Aggie Athletics Hall of Famer Tanya Ho returned as an assistant coach in July 2020, then Kaytianna Kell – who preceded Dagen on the Beaver gymnastics team – came aboard the following December.

Originally from Foothill High School in Pleasanton and San Mateo Gymnastics, Dagen originally attended the University of Florida, where she was largely sidelined by injury: she sat out her true freshman year of 2016, scored a 9.85 on vault in her first appearance as a redshirt freshman, then suffered another season-ending injury soon after. Dagen earned SEC Academic Honor Roll status in each of those two seasons, plus an NACGC/W Scholastic All-America award in 2017.

Upon transferring to Oregon State, Dagen became a regular part of the balance beam and vault lineup, contributing at the Pac-12 Championships, NCAA Corvallis Regional and NCAA Championships on each apparatus in 2019. She also reunited with her younger sister, Madi, on the Beaver gymnastics team starting with that season. Dagen went on to hit 17 out of 18 routines in 2020, including a career-high 9.975 on beam in a dual with Stanford. She graduated that June with a bachelor's degree in innovation management.

Dagen was subsequently granted an additional year of eligibility from the NCAA. She began work on a master's degree in kinesiology and came back from yet another injury to make six appearances on vault – including the conference meet and NCAA Athens Regional. She went on to garner All-Pac-12 honorable mention, thanks to a national-qualifying score of 9.881 that ranked her eighth in the conference on vault. 

In all, Dagen earned three additional Scholastic All-America awards, a Pac-12 All-Academic first-team nod, and two Pac-12 Winter Honor Roll accolades during her Oregon State career.

UC Davis opted out of the 2021 gymnastics season. The Aggies won the 2020 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation regular-season championship thanks to a final NQS of 194.715. The conference canceled that year's championship meet, which was originally scheduled at UC Davis.

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