A year ago, Raegan Reynolds left the AAU West Coast National Championships in tears — this Fourth of July weekend, the Western Treasure Valley track and field standout returned to Reno and left with her first AAU West Coast title in the shot put and a ticket to the Junior Olympic Games. Now she's Iowa-bound this August, ranked seventh in the shot put and a strong medal contender.
FRUITLAND - A year ago, Raegan Reynolds left the AAU West Coast National Championships in tears. This Fourth of July weekend, she left with a national title and a ticket to the Junior Olympic Games.
The local Western Treasure Valley track and field standout returned to Reno, Nevada over the holiday weekend to compete against some of the best young athletes in the West — girls from California to Arizona who had a half-dozen or more meets already under their cleats. Raegan, by contrast, arrived with just two Boise YMCA meets behind her. In 2025, she had fallen short of the Junior Olympic Games, missing the top eight as a seven-year-old in the under-eight age group. This year, the experience could not have been more different.
On the Fourth of July, Raegan opened her weekend in the long jump. She squeaked into the finals as the very last entry — and then made it count. On her second attempt in the finals, she leapt 9 feet 2.75 inches to earn fourth place and punch her first ticket to the Junior Olympic Games. The following day she returned for the shot put, and again on her second attempt in the finals, she launched the shot 18 feet 3.25 inches to claim her first AAU West Coast title.
The road to Reno was not a smooth one. In the weeks before the meet, Raegan smashed her throwing thumb in a door and was adjusting her jumping foot. Her family trained with her left hand for two weeks, hoping simply to place in the top eight and sort things out before the Junior Olympics. As it turned out, she was able to throw with her right hand after all.
"God is good," said her father and coach, Shawn Reynolds. "Raegan left the 2025 championships in tears. I knew then that she was going to come back stronger and do something amazing this year, because she discovered what track and field meant to her rather than what it meant to me. When we returned to the championships this year, she was ready to not only compete but had her goals set on winning her events." He added that a few adjustments in the long jump did not go according to plan — costing her a shot at a higher finish — but that the bigger picture is clear: "The goal is now for her to set new personal bests in each event and see what God has in store for her."
Raegan is now preparing to represent the Western Treasure Valley in Iowa this August. She heads to the Junior Olympic Games ranked seventh in the shot put — a strong medal contender — and among the top 25 or so in the long jump by her season's best. She continues to train with her dad and coach, Shawn Reynolds.
Raegan has graciously received sponsorships from the Zoe Orcutt Memorial Trust, Family Eye Center, Bentz Insurance, and Coley's Glass. She and her family are also holding a raffle with the support of Sugar Mama, Domino's Pizza, Bordertown Coffee, and Jiffy Lube.
