Perham gymnastics beat Bemidji 137.825-133.300 with Myers lead

Perham’s Yellowjackets used a balanced team performance and dominant vaulting to edge Bemidji 137.825 to 133.300 in a meet held Tuesday. The 4.525-point margin reflected both a standout individual effort and strong contributions across the lineup, a combination that gives Otter Tail County fans reason to take notice as the season unfolds.

Senior Aryanna Myers led the Yellowjackets with a 37.675 all-around score. Myers won three individual events: vault (9.625), bars (9.600) and floor (9.450), and she placed second on beam with a 9.000. That performance accounted for a large share of Perham’s team total and underscored the value of her senior leadership.

Perham’s depth on vault was especially decisive. The Yellowjackets swept the top five vault scores, with Myers joined by teammates Ava Winjum, Elise Janke, Charlie Karsnia and Evelyn Drewes in claiming the meet’s highest marks on the apparatus. Winjum also posted the third-best all-around score of the night at 33.650, reinforcing that Perham’s scoring does not rest on a single athlete.

Those event-by-event highlights — vaulting dominance, bars and floor wins by Myers, and a competitive beam showing — paint a clear picture of how Perham built its lead. The team’s ability to produce high marks in multiple events limited Bemidji’s opportunities to close the gap and kept the Yellowjackets in control throughout the rotation.

For local supporters, the result matters on several levels. Short-term, it strengthens Perham’s position in early-season invitational standings and seeds confidence heading into next weekend’s Tornado Tumble in Anoka on Jan. 17. Longer term, the combination of an experienced senior anchor and measurable depth on vault suggests the program is positioned to compete for regional relevance through the remainder of the winter season.

Perham will take that momentum to Anoka, where the team can test itself against a broader field and give more gymnasts competitive experience. For parents, students and community members in Otter Tail County, the meet offers a chance to follow a squad that balances a high-scoring leader with multiple contributors — a formula that often pays dividends in postseason qualifying and program sustainability.