Kelsi Vomacka, Perham's wonderfully talented all-around gymnast, admitted that she wasn't covering new territory, but this time was different. This time, her words held more weight.
"I feel like I've said this last year and the year before," said Vomacka after she led the Yellowjackets to their state-record eighth straight team championship at the Class 1A gymnastics state meet on Friday at the University of Minnesota Sports Pavilion.
"I've always said this feels awesome, and it's so great and things like that, but this is really the year. We've set a record and our names will always be connected with that. Everyone will know us for this."
Perham had shared the record with Mahtomedi, which won seven straight Class 1A championships from 1987 through 1993.
Because Perham has been the top team in Class 1A for the better part of the last decade, its most recent victory came as no surprise. It wasn't, however, the forgone conclusion that it had been in the past. Perham scored 146.025, an admirable mark but not quite up to previous levels. The Yellowjackets own the Class 1A state-meet record score of 150.4, set in 2005.
This year, Perham was top-heavy, with four accomplished gymnasts in seniors Vomacka, Mikaela Eickschen and Carly Peterson and junior Satera Montella. They were backed up by a slew of inexperienced seventh- and eighth-graders.
"This is our first time here without depth," coach Charlie Fleck said. "We haven't been able to get the consistency we've needed."
Consistency in this case being a relative term. While the Yellowjackets may not have a roster as loaded as in years past, they were still good enough to get past their nearest challenger, No. 2-ranked Becker. The Bulldogs had given Perham all it could handle at the Class 1A True Team meet in late January, losing by a little more than a point.
