Ashley Lawson

The 2023 season marks Ashley Lawson’s fifth year as Head Coach of the Southeast Missouri Women’s Gymnastics Team. Lawson coaches the vault and floor teams.
 
Lawson most recently led the Redhawks to a fourth-place finish at the 2022 MIC Championship as Jolie Miller and Lindsay Ockler both tied for the MIC Bars and USAG Bars titles. 
 
SEMO finished fourth overall at the Championship with a team-score of 193.425 and earned 14 All-MIC honors at the conclusion of the Championship.
 
Miller and Ockler tied for first on bars with consecutive 9.900s. Ockler was also the runner-up on vault, notching a 9.825 for First-Team All-MIC.
 
Anna Kaziska, the 2022 MIC Senior Athlete of the Year, took third on floor with a 9.850 for First-Team All-MIC laurels. She also grabbed Second-Team All-MIC honors for beam with a 9.700.
 
Makenzie Marciniak was also selected as the recipient of the Sylvia Keiter Memorial Award.
 
Kaziska also earned MIC Performance of the Week three times and MIC Gymnast of the Week once while Miller captured MIC Performance of the Week after posting a SEMO program-best bars routine of 9.950.
 
Seven Redhawks won event titles in 2022 led by Anna Kaziska's 12. Molly Maxwell won three titles (two all-around, one vault), Jolie Miller won bars four times in 2022 and Lindsay Ockler has won bars three times. Anna Speller (beam), Madison Greene (floor) and Lydia Webb (all-around) have each won an event title this season.
 
Kaziska and Miller both represented SEMO at the 2022 NCAA Seattle Regional. Kaziska opened her third career NCAA Regional with a 9.850 on floor which tied for 15th on floor in the first session of the 2022 NCAA Seattle Regional Thursday (28th overall). Miller registered a 9.800 on bars which finished tied for 20th on bars in the first session of the 2022 NCAA Seattle Regional (41st overall). Kaziska also hit a 9.850 on beam in the final rotation which tied for 11th in the first session of the Regional (27th overall).
 
SEMO then notched a program-best beam score of 49.425 in the fourth and final rotation to total a team score of 193.700 for third in the first 2022 USA Gymnastics Women's Collegiate National Championships Semifinal. The mark surpassed 49.375 which was achieved for the second time in school history at last year's 2021 USA Gymnastics Women's Collegiate National Championships (April 10, 2021) when the Redhawks utilized the score in the last rotation to propel themselves past Lindenwood to earn the Team Championship.
 
Anna Kaziska, Lindsay Ockler and Jolie Miller then combined for four Gold medals at the 2022 USA Gymnastics Women's Collegiate National Championships Individual Event Finals. Kaziska won the beam and floor titles with career best scores of 9.950. Ockler and Miller, the 2022 MIC Bars Champions, secured the 2022 USAG Bars National Championship with identical scores of 9.925, which ranks second all-time in SEMO program history. 
 
SEMO earned 13 All American selections including 11 First Team nods in 2022. Kaziska finished her Redhawks career as an 11-time USA Gymnastics All-American, 11-time MIC All-Conference gymnast and a three-time NCAA Regional Qualifier. She ranks second all-time at SEMO on beam (9.950) behind head coach Ashley Lawson's (formerly Godwin) 9.975 (3/29/2003). On floor, Kaziska ranks fifth all-time in SEMO program history with a trio of 9.950s.
 
Miller registered a career-best and SEMO program-high 9.950 to win the bars title on Senior Night against Illinois State on Feb. 25. The bars mark put Miller first overall in SEMO program history edging the previous school record of 9.925 held by head coach Ashley (Godwin) Lawson (2004) and Malia Roberts (1999).
 
In the classroom, SEMO ranked seventh among the nation's top Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Association (WCGA) academic teams for GPA for the 2021-22 season. The Redhawks posted a 3.7582 GPA with 16 of its student-athletes named Scholastic All-Americans. Over 94 percent of the 2022 Redhawks roster registered a 3.5 or higher GPA for the honor which ranked fifth overall in the country.
In their first year competing as a team and hosting, the Redhawks secured the 2021 USA Gymnastics Women's Collegiate National Championship April 10 at the Show Me Center with a team score of 195.025. Trailing Lindenwood 145.725-145.650 entering the final rotation, SEMO tied a program-best 49.375 on beam to secure the Championship.
 
SEMO's beam score matched the program-record set at the 2003 MIC Championships (March 29, 2003) where Lawson (then Godwin) led SEMO on the event with a 9.975. SEMO also recorded a 48.900 on vault at the 2021 USAG Championship, which tied for the seventh-highest score in SEMO program history.
 
Dahlia Solorzano-Caruso won the 2021 USA Gymnastics All-Around crown with 39.225. The score tied for 11th in SEMO history. Solorzano-Caruso posted a 9.750 on vault, 9.800 on bars, 9.825 on beam and 9.850 on floor.
 
Makenzie Marciniak was awarded the Mari Rae Sopper Spirit Award at the conclusion of the 2021 USA Gymnastics Championships and assistant coach Andavea Alexander was selected as the 2021 USAG Assistant Coach of the Year. Lawson was also named the Ken Anderson USAG Coach of the Year for the second-straight season.
 
SEMO earned 18 USA Gymnastics All-American selections in 2021. Lawson coached Anna Kaziska who secured the 2021 USA Gymnastics Women's Collegiate National Beam Championship with a 9.912 to win the event title after finishing as the runner-up at the 2019 edition of the Championships. She also finished as the runner-up on floor at the 2021 USAG Championship with a 9.875 for Silver after also earning second at the 2019 USAG Championships. Alana Fischer tied for second on beam, compiling a career-best matching 9.850 in her third career USAG Individual Event appearance, for Silver.
 
SEMO registered a team score of 194.825 to take third at the 2021 MIC Championships. Eight Redhawks earned All-MIC honors for their performances at the Championships and head coach Ashley Lawson was named the MIC Coach of the Year for the second-straight season.
 
Dahlia Solorzano-Caruso paced the Redhawks with five All-MIC team honors and finished as the runner-up in the all-around competition with 39.150. Solorzano-Caruso and Anna Speller also tied for Bronze at the Championships on beam with 9.825.
 
Anna Kaziska represented the Redhawks at the 2021 NCAA Salt Lake City Regional. Kaziska registered a 9.900 on floor to tie for second in the session and third overall at the Regional. She also recorded a 9.875 on beam, which tied for ninth overall at the Regional.
 
SEMO averaged a team score of 193.498 in 2021 including six-straight marks of 194 or higher to conclude the season. The Redhawks season-high of 195.150 achieved against Illinois State and Lindenwood on Senior Day (March 12) ranks 10th all-time in SEMO program history. The Redhawks also averaged a 48.000 plus on every event this season including a 48.555 on beam, 48.527 on floor, 48.236 on vault and 48.180 on bars. The SEMO season-best floor score of 49.225 posted on March 12 ranks ninth in the school's record books.
 
Anna Kaziska captured 11 events including the 2021 USAG Beam title. Dahlia Solorzano-Caruso was second on the team with 10 titles including the 2021 USAG All-Around title. Jolie Miller won a pair of titles on bars in 2021 and Alana Fischer captured her first career event title on beam.
 
Four Redhawks earned MIC Weekly honors in 2021. Anna Kaziska earned two laurels with MIC Gymnast of the Week and MIC Performance of the Week while Dahlia Solorzano-Caruso was named MIC Gymnast of the Week twice. Jolie Miller garnered MIC Performance of the Week honors and Ashley Albrecht was tabbed MIC Newcomer of the Week.
 
In the classroom, 13 Redhawks earned USA Gymnastics Women's Collegiate Nationals Scholar Athlete honors and 17 of the SEMO gymnasts were awarded Midwest Independent Conference Scholar-Athlete laurels. Southeast Missouri ranked 13th among the nation's top Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Association (WCGA) academic teams for the 2020-21 season. SEMO posted a 3.78 GPA with 18 of its student-athletes named Academic All-Americans. Over 94 percent of the 2021 Redhawks roster registered a 3.5 or higher GPA.
 
In Lawson’s third season at SEMO, the Redhawks hash tag was #ERUPT which stood for Empathy, Resilient, Unity, Perseverance and Trust. Lawson also stressed Agape during the campaign, which referred to unconditional love, the highest form of love, charity.
Lawson engineered an epic turnaround in her second season at the helm of SEMO, which earned her three individual postseason awards. She was named the 2020 Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Association Region 4 Coach of the Year, USA Gymnastics Ken Anderson Coach of the Year and Midwest Independent Conference Head Coach of the Year.
 
Lawson was also inducted into the Southeast Missouri Athletics Hall of Fame on Feb. 7, 2020 at the Show Me Center for her athletics career at SEMO after the 2020 Redhawks overcame Lindenwood, 193.925-193.600.
 
Lawson prided herself on changing the culture and stressing the importance of The Team in her first year. In her second season, she aimed to put SEMO back on the women’s gymnastics map with the hashtag #weBAC (Being as One, Adjust and Adapt, Confidence is Key).
 
After going winless in competition in 2019, SEMO registered 10 wins and went on a five-competition win streak from Jan. 31 to March 1. The 2020 Redhawks compiled a Team NQS score of 193.780 for third in the MIC. SEMO also notched a team score of 193.000 or higher in each of their final five meets to conclude the season.
 
Lawson coached the Redhawks to a 195.800, their second-highest team score in school history on Feb. 28 against Northern Illinois at the Tennessee Collegiate Classic. The mark was the highest for a USA Gymnastics school (Division I, II and III programs with less than seven-and-a-half full scholarships) in 2020. SEMO also posted season highs on vault (49.075), bars (49.050) and beam (48.775) in addition to the team score during the historic meet. The vault mark ranks first in SEMO program history and surpassed the record set against Seattle Pacific in 1995 (2/18, 49.000). The bars score is the third highest in the Redhawks record books and the beam score ties for 11th overall in the record books. SEMO also posted a season-high floor mark of 49.025 at home against Illinois State, which ranks 11th in SEMO program history.
 
In 2020, Lawson coached three All-MIC gymnasts, two USA Gymnastics First-Team All-Americans and a USAG Senior All-Star. Dahlia Solorzano-Caruso, Anna Kaziska and Jordan Jones were each awarded All-MIC honors. Kaziska, the 2020 MIC Gymnast of the Year, and Dahlia Solorzano-Caruso both were named USAG First-Team All-Americans while Mackenzie Slee was selected to the inaugural USAG Senior All-Star Team. 
 
Kaziska (three-time MIC Gymnast of the Week) and Solorzano-Caruso (two-time MIC Newcomer of the Week) also combined for five MIC Weekly awards.
 
Solorzano-Caruso etched her name in the Redhawks record books twice in 2020 with a career-best 9.900 on beam (t-5th) and a personal-best all-around mark of 39.350 (t-5th). 
 
Five Redhawks also captured individual event titles in 2020 including Kaziska, Solorzano-Caruso, Lindsey Bates and freshmen Jones and Jolie Miller.
 
In the classroom, a total of 18 SEMO gymnasts were named 2020 MIC Scholar-Athletes. Eight Redhawks were also listed as 2020 USAG Scholar Athletes and 10 were named to the Ohio Valley Conference Commissioner's Honor Roll.
 
SEMO ranked 13th among the nation's top WCGA academic teams for the 2019-20 school year after accumulating a 3.76 GPA. Seventeen of its student-athletes were named Academic All-Americans, good for fifth-most among the 74 women's gymnastics academic teams.
 
In 2019, Lawson coached freshman standout Anna Kaziska who was named MIC Newcomer of the Year and All-American (all-around, beam, floor, and bars) after she was the runner-up on beam and floor at the 2019 USA Gymnastics Women's Collegiate National Championships. Kaziska also represented SEMO at the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional.
 
Lawson also helped four Redhawks qualify for the 2019 USA Gymnastics Women's Collegiate National Championships including All-Americans Mackenzie Slee, Gabrielle Adams and Kaziska. Slee was also crowned the MIC Vault Champion at the conference meet. 
 
In the classroom, SEMO ranked 13th overall for team grade-point averages (GPAs) in the Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Association (WCGA) after they registered a 3.67 GPA during the spring and had a cumulative GPA of 3.65 for the 2018-19 academic year. Eleven members of the 2019 Redhawks team earned WCGA Scholastic All-America Awards.
 
Lawson was previously an assistant coach at Lindenwood University in 2018 and was named the MIC Assistant Coach of the Year. There, she was the balance beam coach, helping lead the Lions to their fourth-straight Midwest Independent Conference title. Lindenwood also finished second in the team finals of the 2018 USA Gymnastics Women's Collegiate National Championships.
 
She also served as a member of the Southeast Missouri women’s gymnastics coaching staff during the 2009-10 season. As an assistant coach at SEMO, Lawson was the head balance beam coach and helped three gymnasts qualify for the 2010 NCAA Regionals. Also, while acting as the head balance beam coach, Lawson turned the Redhawks weakest event into its second-best event in just six months.
Prior to her time at SEMO, Lawson was a gymnastics coach for three years at Suncoast Gymnastics Academy out of New Port Richey, Florida, and three years at Southern Starz Gymnastics out of Cape Coral, Florida. Her time at Suncoast was spent coaching levels 5-9 on all events and teaching beginner gymnastics to children ages three to seven. At Southern Starz, Lawson coached levels 4-10 on all events as well as coordinated strength and conditioning exercises for the gymnasts.
From 2001-2004, Lawson competed on the Redhawks gymnastics squad at Southeast Missouri. She holds the school record in four of the five individual event titles. She holds the bars (9.925), beam (9.975), floor (10.000), and all-around (39.550) records. She is one of just three gymnasts in school history to record a perfect 10.000 in an individual event.
 
Lawson was a MIC Champion four times in her career, winning the uneven bars in 2002 and the balance beam, floor exercise and all-around in 2003. She was an NCAA Regional qualifier in the all-around each of her final three seasons at SEMO (2002, 2003, 2004). Lawson’s highest NCAA Regional finish was an 11th-place showing in 2002.
 
During her time at Southeast Missouri as a gymnast, she earned the team’s Most Valuable Gymnast all four seasons and was named the Southeast Missouri State University Female Athlete of the Year in 2004. Lawson was inducted into the Southeast Missouri Athletics Hall of Fame on Feb. 7, 2020.
 
Lawson graduated from Southeast Missouri in 2005 with a Bachelor’s degree in Exercise Science. She and her husband, David, a former Southeast Missouri baseball player, have two sons, Chase, and Bryce.
Category:SEMO Athletic Staff
Category:Gymnastics Head Coaches