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.”

The Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, more commonly referred to as the Farm Bill, is a crucial safety net for agriculture producers.

“We’ve been pushing for this new Farm Bill for two years now, and so we’re hoping that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, and we’re pushing that it’s finished by the end of this fiscal year,” explained Boyd Heilig, president of the Montana Grain Growers Association (MGGA).

Half of Montana’s crop production is exported oversees, making the export markets critical to Montana farmers, and why MGGA is seeking additional funding for the foreign market development to be added to the new farm bill.

“The Farm Bill in 2018 was good, there’s nothing wrong with it, but we want some enhancements to crop insurance, that’s our number one priority, and some additional funding for market access programs and foreign market development,” said Heilig.

With the current 2018 farm bill, totaling $428 billion over the five years, 76% is in the nutrition category, 8.9% is in crop insurance, 7.3% is in farm commodity programs, and 6.8% is in conservation.

“Each time a Farm Bill is about to expire completely, they throw in an extension because they don’t want to revert back to the program where the farmers get paid what it costs to produce their crops,” said Walter Schweitzer, president of the Montana Farmers Union.

While the fate of the Farm Bill is unknown at this time, Montana farmers are fighting for more funding to protect agriculture production, and with that, national food security.

“Either they’re going to pass some sort of version during the lame duck period, which is between November and the end of January, or they’ll wait until the new president and congress are sworn in to pass a different Farm Bill,” said Schweitzer.

“We know that nothing is going to get done with the Farm Bill until after the election. But we as Montana Grain Growers, we’re pushing to get this farm bill done,” Heilig added.

If another Farm Bill isn’t passed, federal nutrition programs including SNAP are what will be hit the hardest.

In the last Farm Bill, more than 300 billion dollars was allotted for SNAP programs, meaning that funding would no longer be available, taking away those benefits.

“You don’t have one without the other. And the way I see it is we produce these products, this food, these food products, and so if they go into food programs, that’s just a win-win for both of us to give to the needy but use our food that we raised as part of it. And so that’s why it’s always been together, and it hasn’t been separated, so that’s where a lot of the lines are drawn because they don’t want any cuts to SNAP, and the farmers don’t want any cuts to their programs. And so that’s where the typical argument is of the dollars needed, and where do they go,” shared Heilig.

The MGGA has no interest in seeing that happen; they are seeking to keep that funding there, while also allotting more funding to the crop insurance and market access programs.

HELENA — On Wednesday, Aug. 28, a food-habituated black bear sow was shot and killed in Butte by officials with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP) after repeated efforts to remove her and her two cubs from populated areas failed.

The cubs were eventually captured and taken to the Montana Wildlife Center in Helena. MTN’s Chet Layman spoke with Wildlife Center Coordinator Ali Pons to find out what’s next for the cubs:

What’s next for black bear cubs orphaned in Butte? Montana FWP explains

WATCH FWP explains decision to euthanize black bear sow in Butte

Montana FWP explains decision to euthanize black bear sow in Butte