Raessler Guthrie

By Hannah Haseltine 

March 2023

“And in first place… Raessler Guthrie!” Completely in shock, young Raessler ran up to the podium to take her trophy, her first all-around win. Little did the smiling, level four gymnast know that this moment was only the beginning of her gymnastics career.

Raessler Guthrie, a junior at Melrose High School, has grown up to be a promising and bright student athlete. Now a level nine gymnast, Guthrie trains at Nashoba Elite Gymnastics in Westford, Massachusetts. “I’ve trained there for just over a year now; it’s my second season with them. The day I walked into the gym, I knew that it was where I wanted to be,” Guthrie reflected. 

The excitement of taking the next big step in her training does not diminish the fact that the past year was a rough transition for Guthrie. Raessler explained, “I went from training at a gym that was ten minutes away, three hours a day, to a gym that’s now an hour away, four hours a day.” In addition to attending school full-time, getting to and from school and the gym began to take up the entirety of her days. After discussing alternative options with her parents and the school, Raessler was approved to attend reversing half-days. She goes to three classes in person, and takes online classes for the other three. She still does the same amount of work as other students, but at her own pace and on her own schedule. “It’s really given me a lot of freedom, as well as a lot of flexibility.” 

The typical gymnastics season is a very busy, time consuming series of events and training. Many athletes who practice at Guthrie’s level go to the gym four to five times a week, anywhere from three to four hours a day. Most teams compete at between ten and fifteen meets from October to April. The meet season is very busy in comparison to the summer, which is similar to a typical off season. During the summer, gymnasts do not practice routines and typically do not train as frequently. 

Raessler started off the season this year with one of every athlete’s worst nightmares: an injury. Nevertheless, she continued to go to the gym to condition and train as much as she could. She also supported her team at competitions, even though she was not competing with them. “To then just be hurt and have to watch my team go to their first meet… I went, but I wasn’t with them. I wasn’t competing, which was definitely really hard.” 

It is hard to be injured at any time during the season, but right at the beginning was especially hard for her because of all of the effort she had put into her routines, which had been competition-ready. As a word of encouragement for herself and other student athletes facing injuries, Raessler says, “what brought me back was knowing that for every setback, you’re going to go so much farther. And I missed it so much.” 

Recently cleared to practice and compete again, Raessler attended Team Challenge Cup in Connecticut, where she received some of her best scores yet. She placed first on floor with a 9.675, enough for her to rank 31st on America’s top 100 for floor scores in 2023 so far.  Raessler admitted that her favorite event would have to be floor. “There’s no better feeling than hitting a floor routine. The energy of your whole team standing around the floor, cheering you on, is just unmatched,” she said with a smile. She also tied for first place on beam with a score of 9.0, another example of how her determination and positive mindset during recovery have enabled her to succeed.