Through injuries & hardships, Mizzou gymnast from Olathe has learned to soar

Missouri senior Addison Lawrence has been a star for the Tigers throughout her career.

In eight meets this season, she recorded five scores of 9.950 on the balance beam. Her consistency has been a major factor in the success of Mizzou’s lineup for that event, which currently holds the No. 8 spot in the nation.

“She’s a stud,” Mizzou coach Shannon Welker said of Lawrence. “I mean, it’s impressive, right? Addi has been doing a great job, and I’m really proud of her.”

Lawrence delivers strong routines under pressure, where it is less about consistency and more about perfection. While she has always been excellent on the beam, her goal this season was to narrow her range of scores — and consistently score in the 9.900 range.

Lawrence he worked hard with the Missouri staff to make these corrections and get as close to that perfect 10.0 as possible.

“I spent so many hours, and I’ve done so many back handsprings, just really working on straightening my back leg,” she said. “It’s little things like that. At first, they were really tricky, and then the more you do them, the more natural it just gets. The consistency also comes from me having fun and my team being there with me.”

Welker describes the 2026 Tigers as a “special” team. They all have immense amounts of respect for each other while also holding similar aspirations and goals for their season.

No matter the circumstance, the squad has each other’s back and helps Lawrence feel supported in every moment.

“I cannot speak more highly on our team,” Lawrence said. “In the grand scheme of things, we are all there for each other, and that really makes such a big difference when it comes to practicing and competing. I get to go into practice and hang out with my best friends while working hard. It makes life so much better.”

Perfect stick

Lawrence’s personality shines during competition. She is always one of the biggest supporters for her teammates, and is the first to bring new trends to NCAA gymnastics. One of those trends is her stick celebrations after completing a perfect dismount on beam.

In a home meet against Florida, she acted like her feet were glued to the mat, and that she needed her teammates to pull her off. She even surprises Mizzou beam coach Lacey Rubin with the celebrations she chooses.

“I had no idea,” Rubin said. “I’m standing there ready for a high five or a hug.”

Moments like these keep gymnastics fresh and fun. Most importantly, it takes the stress out of high-pressure situations.

“I normally tell one person, and I decide the day of the meet,” Lawrence said of her celebrations. “It’s just fun to keep things light.”

The road to success has not always been easy for Lawrence. She was forced to redshirt her sophomore year due to a hip injury. The injury presented her with many obstacles she had to overcome and changes in perspective she was required to make.

During her recovery, she felt slightly isolated from her team. Naturally, she could not participate in the grind of the season. No practices and no having to push your teammates through grueling conditioning and workouts.

While strange at first, she leaned into her team and understood there was a role for her despite being injured.

“Leaning into my team was really a big thing because without being in gymnastics and actually doing it,” Lawrence said, “I felt like I had lost that piece of connection with the team.

“Just leaning into the people that I knew cared for me and were able to help me through that was huge,” Lawrence said. “I really just embraced being the biggest cheerleader and truly enjoying the meets that way. Even though I wasn’t competing, I was still winning and losing with the team. So, did it matter if I was doing gymnastics or not? I’m a part of the team.”

She came to terms with no longer being able to compete in all four events, something her younger self would have struggled with greatly. Being a Tiger helped her realize the importance of event specialists.

“Having a season where I couldn’t do anything to now being able to do two events, it’s really exciting and really shifted my perspective of gymnastics as a whole,” Lawrence said. “And now I can just truly have fun when I’m doing it, because I’m so grateful that I get to do it.”

Inspirations

Lawrence’s love for Mizzou and for gymnastics bleeds through during every competition. Her future aspirations include one day becoming a college gymnastics coach. She is mindful of her coaches’ techniques and hopes to apply them to her own athletes.

All four of her coaches inspire her in different ways, and harness qualities that she would love to have for her future career. Rubin was someone Lawrence could turn to during the hardships of her injury when she just needed someone to chat with about it. Now, the duo works together daily on beam.

“She honestly has a lot of fun up there, and that’s a lot of fun for me to watch,” Rubin said. “She doesn’t put too much pressure on herself. She really enjoys it. She doesn’t put so much pressure on herself where it’s all or nothing.”

Lawrence said, “I like standing over by the beam and listening to Lacey’s corrections. If she says something that confuses me a little bit, I’ll walk up to her and be like, ‘Hey, why did you take this deduction on somebody’s routine?’ So, I really try to learn from her as well, because I do want that to be my career.”

As a senior, Lawrence has had the chance to practice coaching techniques on her younger teammates. MU’s lineups are filled with many freshmen and sophomores, providing Lawrence the chance to share her experience with those teammates.

“Just really cracking down on our culture and teaching them and guiding them,” Lawrence said. “Leading by example, and I think our whole team does that very well, so we all can just learn from each other.”

Lawrence is a gymnast who has competed in many different places in Missouri’s beam lineup throughout her career. She was formally the leadoff routine, then she consistently competed in the fifth spot.

After the graduation of 2025 NCAA beam champion Helen Hu, many fans wondered who would take over the anchor position on beam. Without question, Lawrence was the simple answer.

She never felt the pressure of taking over for Hu, and is simply going to compete at the highest level possible regardless of her spot in the lineup.

“Being called the anchor doesn’t really change my gymnastics at all,” Lawrence said. “Also thinking about replacing Helen, she’s just an inspiration and somebody that I looked up to. So, I love that I’m able to be compared to her. I think that’s super cool that people are looking at me as the new Helen Hu, but I would also like them to just see me as Addison Lawrence, and I think they like my stick celebrations. So, we’re getting there.”

While this is Lawrence’s senior season, she does have a fifth year of eligibility due to her sophomore redshirt year. She has yet to decide if she will use her eligibility or not, but admits that her body may be ready to enter retirement.

“I have thought about it, and nothing is off the table, but currently I am leaning towards no,” Lawrence said. “Just because my body is hurting. With that being said, I am just taking every single meet, every single practice, and trying to enjoy it to the fullest.”

Lawrence is not shy about her goals for the remainder of 2026. She wanted to be an All-American in the postseason and regular season, earn her first perfect 10.0, win the beam title at the SEC Championships or the NCAA Championships, but most importantly, have fun.

“The overall thing is just having fun, and I think you can see that when I’m dancing around looking goofy with my glasses, I’m just truly having fun. So that is my biggest thing.”

Lawrence has made her impact on Mizzou gymnastics. She will be remembered for her incredible consistency, as well as her vibrant personality, leadership and kindness that shines in every moment. It is these qualities that will help lead the Tigers right back to the NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championships.

“We’re going back to Dallas,” Lawrence said. “We want to just give our best every single day and then also be top 10 on every single event. And we’ve done that for the past three weeks in a row, and so we’re gonna continue pushing that as well.”

Missouri will hit the mat at the SEC Championship at 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 21 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Copyright 2026 Columbia Missourian.