Perham sweeps Harrington Early Bird Invite with 11 event wins

Perham did not need a single runaway performance to control the Harrington Early Bird Invite. The Yellowjackets spread the points across the lineup and came away with 11 first-place finishes, enough to sweep both team titles at Otter Stadium and send a clear early-season message.

The girls scored 178 points and the boys finished with 154 as Perham handled a meet that drew several Class AA programs to Fergus Falls High School on Thursday, April 16. Detroit Lakes was second in the boys standings with 129 points, while Fergus Falls placed third with 124. Hillcrest Lutheran Academy’s meet coverage described the event as very competitive, with three Class AA schools in the field.

The individual wins that stood out most for Perham came from Matt Jorgenson and Laston Dahl. Jorgenson won the boys 400 meters in 51.62 seconds, and Dahl captured the 300 hurdles in 43.94. Those victories mattered because they were part of a broader score across sprint, hurdle, relay and field events, the kind of balance that usually separates a deep team from a one-dimensional one.

That depth matters for Perham now because the season is still in its opening stretch. The Yellowjackets had already won the girls title at their home invitational the day before the Fergus Falls meet, giving the program back-to-back strong results before conference competition starts to tighten. In a Minnesota spring where weather, rust and early-lineup shuffling can all slow teams down, Perham looked ready immediately.

The sweep also carries weight because it was not a first-time breakthrough. Perham combined for 11 first-place finishes at the Harrington Early Bird Invite in 2024 as well, suggesting the meet has become a reliable early benchmark for a program that knows how to start fast. Repeating that kind of production two years later points to more than a hot day; it points to a roster that can score in volume.

For local track followers, the takeaway is straightforward: Perham left Fergus Falls with both trophies, a pile of individual wins and an early argument that the Yellowjackets could be a serious contender on both sides this spring.