Happy and healthy: UCLA gymnastics welcomes key competitors back during exhibition
For weeks, Margzetta Frazier left practice, went home and cried. The redshirt senior gymnast felt defeated. She felt out of shape.
Months later, she is wiping different tears from her eyes.
Almost a year after breaking her foot during a bar routine, Frazier came back to Pauley Pavilion on Thursday night as one of several marquee competitors who celebrated the beginning of UCLA’s new era with triumphant returns from injury.
While head coach Janelle McDonald made her UCLA debut at the team’s preseason exhibition along with a stellar first impression from freshman Selena Harris, redshirt freshman Emily Lee and senior Chloe Lashbrooke took significant steps in their recoveries from Achilles injuries by competing in three events each.
Frazier, who has never fallen on any of her 92 collegiate routines, returned in all four events. After she cried daily for the first month of her comeback in the gym, Frazier relished the long-awaited anxious energy of a competition setting.
“I’m really grateful for my teammates being there and my parents and Janelle because this is the strongest I’ve felt since freshman year,” Frazier said, dabbing her eyes carefully to not smudge her makeup, “and the happiest.”
After breaking her foot during the first event of UCLA’s season opener last year, Frazier led off Thursday’s exhibition on vault, followed by Lee. Lee earned high marks from guest judges and former UCLA All-Americans Gracie Kramer, Nia Dennis, Vanessa Zamarripa and Felicia Hano with just a small hop on her landing. Eighteen months after tearing her Achilles on national television during the Olympic trials, the three-time U.S. national team member savored the moment by dramatically dropping her head back while saluting the judges.
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Landing the vault felt like a weight had lifted, Lee said. Then her teammates rushed down the vault runway, holding their hands in the air for high-fives and wrapping her in hugs. She shared a special, rehearsed handshake with junior Katie McNamara.
“Oh, it made my heart so happy,” Lee said of her teammates’ reaction. “In the past, competing was like the worst thing ever, and I still have that mindset, but after today, I can genuinely say, honestly, that I had fun.”
Since crashing on her first tumbling pass on the second day of Olympic trials, Lee has faced challenges in and out of the gym at UCLA. On top of the injury, Lee struggled to adjust to college, where she was suddenly thrust into high-level classes in person after completing high school online. She had to balance a newfound social life. The mood in the gym soured after a preseason incident in which a gymnast allegedly used a racial slur, and the environment made it difficult to “want to come back and contribute to the team,” Lee said.
But Lee now feels as if she has found her footing with McDonald, who has emphasized the importance of team bonding. The tactic is paying off.
“I feel like I’ve bonded with the team way more than I have last year,” Lee said. “That was so important to me because I really wanted that sisterhood and that team atmosphere.”
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Lee’s bond with Lashbrooke helped the teammates persevere through their difficult recoveries. Lashbrooke’s comeback has been even more arduous since her injury in January 2021.
The Scottsdale, Ariz., native seemed poised for a breakout sophomore season after she averaged 9.867 on her six floor routines as a freshman. Teammates noticed how she was assuming a larger leadership role. But just days before the Bruins were scheduled to start their season, Lashbrooke tore her Achilles in practice.
The aftermath was difficult, Lashbrooke said. At first, the floor specialist had a “woe-is-me” attitude, especially as the recovery dragged on past the typical one-year timeline. But she felt inspired when Lee joined the team and attacked her recovery.
“I was frustrated because I was really ready to go back in last year,” Lashbrooke said. “I wanted to so bad, but my body just wasn’t ready.”
Lashbrooke performed one watered-down exhibition routine on floor last year but hasn’t logged a competitive routine since 2020. She hopes to be back at full strength by UCLA’s season-opener on Jan. 7 in Las Vegas. She’s antsy to return fully, she said with a smile.
While recovering from her foot injury, Frazier took inspiration from Lashbrooke and Lee, emulating the way they took extra turns in the gym and did extra reps in the weight room. Seeing their comebacks Thursday brought more tears to Frazier’s eyes.
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“Watching Chloe and Emily completely rise like a phoenix from the ashes in terms of strength, confidence, endurance, it’s amazing to watch. I’m very proud,” Frazier said. “I tell them every day how proud I am of them and I really mean that and they do inspire me a lot to work harder and be a better gymnast and a better person and a better teammate for my team.”
Through the disappointing season that ended with UCLA missing the NCAA championships for the second consecutive year, the rift between Frazier and the former coaching staff grew more apparent. She openly called for Chris Waller’s job and refused to accept flowers from the former coach on Senior Day, when a teammate handed Frazier a bouquet instead. Soon after, Waller resigned in April and Frazier’s best friend and former teammate Norah Flatley transferred to Arkansas.
With UCLA in transition, Frazier could have bolted too. When asked about the decision Thursday, Frazier said UCLA had been her dream school since she first visited the campus and “nothing will change that.”
McDonald said having Frazier’s consistency, both in and out of the lineup, has been a key ingredient for the coach’s first year in Westwood.
“She puts her heart and soul into what she’s doing … and I could not be more proud of where she’s at right now,” McDonald said. “I’ve watched her career for a long time and really feel like she’s doing the best gymnastics in college that she ever has.”
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