A second chance at glory

Mount Vernon High School senior and amateur gymnast Reagan Frazee stands on the verge of going to the 2026 USA Gymnastics Women’s Development Program Level 10 National Championships in Oklahoma City, Ok., May 6-10.

Just two years ago, Frazee, a member of the Gym X-Treme Club in Lewis Center, who was competing in Level 9, won the state championship, but lost her opportunity to go to the nationals, due to an elbow injury. Last year, her season came to an end when she sustained a knee injury.

"I had an ACL/meniscus injury,” explained Frazee. “Rehabbing definitely felt like it took forever, it happened in September 2024. My season starts in December, so I was out for the entire season last year. So, I just worked really hard at physical therapy. I did everything I could there and everything I could at home."

Rehabbing can be a lonely road, but Frazee still went to the gym, just to be around her teammates. That made her push harder in PT, so she could get back to competing.

"I still wanted to reach my end goal, if I had any chance of doing that,” said Frazee. “So, I did everything I could to make those hard days worth it in the end, and just push through it. That's why I am where I am now, having a good senior season."

Frazee’s comeback has been steady and strong. She placed fifth all around at this year’s state championships. In addition, she got third on the vault and third on the uneven bars.

"The year started out a little bit rough. I was a little bit inconsistent. It was also my first time competing and over a year and a half, so I guess that's kind of normal. As the season went on, I gained my consistency back. The last two meets (states and regionals) have been my best meets. So, it's good that I'm peaking at the right time," she said.

In a year-and-a-half, Frazee has sharpened her skills as her knee has mended. Now, she has a new best event.

"Definitely vault, which is surprising to say, because it wasn't before,” said Frazee. “In fact, the physical therapy made me come back stronger. Now, the vault has been one of my high-scoring events for this whole season. I feel like something just clicked. Now, I feel like I'm faster and my legs are stronger. It just keeps getting easier. "

The vault event starts with the gymnast sprinting down the mat, toward the vaulting table. Then, she launches herself off a springboard, to the vaulting table, exploding into a burst of movements, spinning, and twisting in the air. The landing on the mat is a sudden stop, with both feet planted firmly on the landing spot and both arms, raised triumphantly in the air. In fact, the arms, raised like that, are part of what helps the vaulter stay balanced, and hold that perfect landing at the end.

"We do it so much in practice,” said Frazee. “We trained 20 hours a week, so we do it over and over again."

For Frazee, keeping motivated is not a problem. She has always wanted to do gymnastics. Once her mother helped her get started at age 3, she didn't want anything else.

"I just go back to why I started this in the first place and how long I've been doing this,” said Frazee. “I think about how I've come this far."

Frazee’s work on the uneven bars has also grown with her move to Level 10.

"It's definitely upgraded,” she said. “I've gone from Level 9 to Level 10, and needed to add a major single bar release and that's one of the toughest skills to get."

A single bar release in gymnastics occurs when a gymnast lets go of a bar and re-grasps the same bar after performing a move in the air, rather than letting go of the high bar and grabbing the low bar.

"So, you let go of the high bar, do a flip and then catch the high bar again,” said Frazee. “There are five different types you can choose from, but they are all the same point value in gymnastics. You just have to find which one works for you. Normally, it takes about a year to get that skill, because there's so many little things you have to do. If you're off by one little detail, you won't catch the bar. In fact, bars were one of the only things I could do during my rehab. So, I would go to practice and just do bars for 2 1/2 hours. The extra time I spent on bars made me ready for this season. I never had an issue with learning that skill, because of all the extra time I spent working at it."

The mat exercises, one of Frazee’s favorite events, requires an unusual combination of strength, agility, and endurance.

"I think a lot of people think that the floor routines are just fun, but it involves a lot of endurance and it's not just the tumbling,” said Frazee. “You need a lot of endurance to get through the routine. We do a lot of sprint routines in the gym and mat push routines, where we don't even tumble. We just build up our endurance to be able to get through that minute and 30 seconds."

Frazee, who has carried a 3.99 GPA through her high school career, wants to go on to higher education and is in the process of getting recruited to a college or university.

"I have a couple of official campus visits scheduled for next week,” she said. “Hopefully soon, I will make my final college decision.”

Along with continuing her gymnastics career in college, Frazee wants to study exercise science and kinesiology, and is looking to become an occupational therapist.

"In sports you get to know a lot about it,” Frazee said. “Going to PT opened my eyes to physical therapy, and I wanted to do that for a while. Then, I found out what occupational therapy was, just by hearing about it and doing some of my own research. I feel like doing PT opened my eyes to this career. Most of the schools that I'm talking to now have a good program in what I want to study."

As for next month’s nationals, Frazee is delighted to finally be all the way back from injuries so she can be part of it.

"I don't have any placement goals at the nationals because they're just so many talented athletes there. I'm just training hard in the gym now, so I can do as well as I can in nationals. It'll be my last meet in club gymnastics, ever."