Grace Murray was initially not sold on attending a four-year college. Had she not made the decision to come to Ithaca College for gymnastics, her story might be very different.

“It was completely unplanned,” Murray said. “I actually committed past the due date in May. It took a while, but I could not imagine my gymnastics career going any other way.”

Breaking the record

At the heart of Ithaca College Athletics is the gymnastics team, filled with talent that surfaces through each grade, with gymnasts breaking records and earning program titles. A gymnast who exemplifies that is senior Grace Murray. Murray competes in the floor and vault competitions and has broken numerous program and personal records throughout her time on the team. She was also named one of the best Division III gymnasts on vault and floor, scoring over 9.500 in all 20 routines in the 2026 season.

Above all the All-American titles, the personal records, and honorable mentions, there is one performance that means the most to grace. On Feb 11, during the team’s last home meet in Ben Light Gymnasium and Murray’s last of her career, Murray and five of her teammates set the program record for the floor with a score of 48.950, with her individual score of 9.850.

“The record that means the most is breaking the floor record,” Murray said. “It was the last home meet a couple weeks ago.

That was just my last time ever performing in Ben Light and just ending my career here breaking the program record on the floor definitely means the most.”

Changing the game

Another of her performances landed in a special category. In the same meet, she completed a front handspring pike half at the vault. Successfully completing this move involved when she ran towards the vault, completed a front handspring, a pike, and then turned it at the last second. In addition to successfully completing  this performance and winning the vault with a 9.700, she was named the only Division III gymnast to successfully perform the front handspring pike half in the country.

Murray knew that this was something no other Division III gymnast has performed before and used that as her motivation to successfully master it.

“What really inspired me to try and do this vault is that I knew that no one else had done it yet in Division III,” Murray said. “After going to nationals as an individual the past couple of years I knew I really needed to step it up. The west has already stepped it up, so I felt it was time that I really needed to upgrade my vault.”

A gymnast that is performing at this level, are gymnasts that are in Division I programs. Head Coach Richard Suddaby said what it means to him to have one of his gymnasts competing at this elite level.

“It’s really exciting to see her perform at a level that is approaching the DI level,” Suddaby said. “It’s kind of cool because we are not paid athletes like they are and my team, like Grace, we call her Mur, she does it cause she loves it, so that’s just a thrill to work with her.”

A team effort

Suddaby also said that working with Grace involves the whole team, not just her as one person.

“All the team members…we’re coaching them.” Suddaby said. “She has unique needs just like everybody else does so we are just trying to meet her needs and fuel her desire. So it’s a process.”

Murray said she received Division I opportunities but denied them, as she said it was not what she was looking for. She did not initially plan to compete in college. Murray was planning on attending her community college in Maryland until her former club teammate and now college teammate, another senior Emily Kobusky, talked to Coach Suddaby and to their former club coaches about her offer from Ithaca and was able to convince her to accept it.

Kobusky and Murray did not know each other, they were not friends, but only knew of one another due to club gymnastics. Now these two are teammates, roommates, and best friends.

“She was like ‘you have to come here’ and I had no idea who this girl was.” Murray said. “At this point I wasn’t even going to college. I was going to my community college and figuring out my life.”

Without this offer from Ithaca, without Kobusky, without her team, and without her strength, Murray would not have made the name for herself that she has. Receiving all-American all-academic honors, breaking these program records, and being named the only gymnast in the entire country to successfully perform a vault is owed in part of the support of the team around her.