Aakre takes second as Perham boys golf places third at Wadena meet

Reid Aakre gave Perham an immediate lift at Whitetail Run Golf Course in Wadena, finishing second and leading the Yellowjacket boys to a third-place team result in their first competition of the spring.

For a team that had to dust off the snow for its opener, the finish served as an early test of how much depth Perham brought into the season. Whitetail Run, which describes itself as an 18-hole championship course with a practice facility, gave the Heart O’ Lakes meet a full tournament setting, and Perham answered with a competitive start despite the cold early-April conditions that have long complicated outdoor sports across northern Minnesota.

The result mattered because it was not only Aakre near the top of the leaderboard. Perham still managed to place third in the meet, a sign that the Yellowjackets had enough scoring behind their top player to stay among the top teams on the day. That matters for a program that finished third in the Heart O’ Lakes Conference last season and sent three golfers to the section tournament. With Aakre and Aiden Vetsch back, along with six other letter winners who had varsity experience, Perham entered the spring with a roster built to compete rather than simply retool.

The opener also fit the broader shape of the Yellowjackets’ schedule. Perham High School listed another conference meet at Hawley Golf Club on Monday, April 20, giving the team little time to settle in before the next round of league play. That quick turnaround makes the Wadena finish more than a one-day line on a scorecard. It was an early look at how the Yellowjackets might handle a compressed spring and the weather that often forces golf teams indoors when courses are still hard to play.

Peder Butenhoff, beginning his sixth season as head coach, has the kind of returning experience that can turn a cold-weather opening into momentum. If Aakre’s second-place finish was the headline, the third-place team result suggested something else: Perham may have enough depth to stay in the mix all season if the weather and the scores keep cooperating.