Margzetta Frazier announces return to UCLA gymnastics for 5th season
UCLA gymnast Margzetta Frazier poses on beam. Frazier will return for a fifth season with the Bruins, the team announced Monday.(Kanishka Mehra/Daily Bruin senior staff)
By Sam Settleman
Aug. 15, 2022 12:08 p.m.
This post was updated Aug. 21 at 9:32 p.m.
One of the most consistent gymnasts in Bruin history is back for another year.
UCLA gymnast Margzetta Frazier will return for her fifth season with the blue and gold in 2023, the team announced Monday morning. Frazier – who has hit all 92 of her collegiate routines without a fall – missed nearly her entire senior season in 2022 because of an injury.
“I am so thrilled to announce my super senior year at UCLA,” Frazier said in a statement released by the team. “Being able to further contribute to the legacy that is UCLA Gymnastics is an incomparable honor.”
During UCLA’s 2022 season-opening meet in Minnesota, Frazier’s foot collided with the low bar during her bars routine, resulting in a fractured foot that sidelined the three-time All-American for the rest of the year.
In addition to accruing three All-American honors on bars in her first three seasons with the Bruins, Frazier earned first-team All-Pac-12 recognition in the all-around as a junior in 2021. She competed in the all-around in every meet for UCLA that season, hitting all 44 of her routines.
That season, she also qualified for the NCAA championships on bars after finishing the regular season ranked No. 6 in the country on the event.
“Not only am I continuing my education at the Number One public school in the nation, but I get to keep bleeding blue and gold on the competition floor with the team that I love so much,” Frazier said in the statement.
In January, during a podcast appearance near the beginning of the 2022 season, Frazier called for former coach Chris Waller to be fired following a controversy within the team related to the transfer of Alexis Jeffrey.
[Related: UCLA gymnast Margzetta Frazier calls for coaching change amid hostile environment]
Since Frazier’s public comments, Waller has resigned, and UCLA has hired a new coaching staff. After Waller’s resignation in April, the Bruins brought on former California assistant coach Janelle McDonald as head coach in May before adding a pair of new assistants and retaining assistant coach BJ Das.
While Frazier is returning to Westwood, UCLA lost a top gymnast in the offseason with the departure of Norah Flatley to Arkansas for her fifth season. With Flatley gone, Frazier is set to be the most experienced Bruin on the roster in 2023.
