MISSOULA — The Olympics recently wrapped up this summer, a memorable run that brough the world's top athletes to Paris to compete.
For one Montanan, that stage in 2028 is firmly in her sights.
Meet Reese Esponda, a Helena native who has been swiftly climbing the ranks in the gymnastics world, a sport from a young age she knew she wanted to pursue.
"I was watching Gabby Douglas in the 2012 Olympics, and I was doing, like, headstands," Esponda told MTN Sports earlier this summer. "I was like, 'Mom, I want to do that.' And then I started.
"My biggest goal is to make the Olympics, hopefully in 2028, that's my goal. But we'll see."
That was age 3 when she started. Now at age 15, the energetic and young athlete is one of the decorated up-and-coming talents in U.S. gymnastics.
And it all started in Montana, where Reese would train at Gym 406 in Helena before her and her mother moved to Missoula in 2020 to advance her skills. In Missoula she competed and worked at Roots Gymnastics & Dance.
It was a challenging dynamic with the rest of the Esponda family staying put in Helena, but the family saw Reese's potential, so they did everything to make it work.
"People kind of looked at us and said, 'What are you doing?' recalled Lindsay Esponda, Reese's mother. "It's just a sport we couldn't take away from her. She works harder than anybody I know, and day in and day out, puts in the hours. The frustration level sometimes gets high, but she always does with a smile on her face and just a great, great drive."
In Missoula, Reese began to excel, and fly.
In 2022 she began to break through by competing at the Hopes Championships.
Then in 2023, it ramped up even more with appearances at the Winter Cup, the American Classic, the Core Hydration Classic and the Xfinity US Gymnastics Championships, with reappearances at most of those meets in 2024.
She made the U.S. Junior National Team late in 2023, and earlier this year competed in Azerbaijan, meaning she made the brief jump to the senior national team.
"Just like, getting to experience it all," Reese said. "Not a lot of people get to experience what I've got to experience from their sport. So that's super cool. I was like I can keep improving. I can keep getting better. And my coaches always told me, like, you can be good if you keep working hard."
"She sets her mind to something, and she does it, and that's really been her journey throughout the entire process of getting where she is right now," Lindsay added.
Esponda has been climbing ever since, and earlier this year, Reese and Lindsay again relocated, this time to Texas as Reese joined the elite World Champions Centre near Houston, where she trains everyday alongside one of the greatest athletes of all time in Simone Biles along with star and Olympic medalist Jordan Chiles.
In the past she's competed against them, and now, the Montanan gets to call some of the best gymnasts in the world her teammates.
"It's really cool, because they know what they're doing," Reese said. "I can look to them and ask them questions. I've never been able to do that before. So having them is super nice. It's super cool and inspiring because they're doing like, the big skills, and then I can talk to them and ask them questions about when they were building up to those skills, like how to do it."
The sky's the limit for Esponda, as she aims to complete her goals to show a gymnast from Montana can make it on the grandest of stages.
"She's still in there, working hard every day, and I think her goal is 2028 and we'll see what happens," Lindsay said. "It'll be fun to watch."
