Two highly ranked gymnasts signed their letter of intent Nov. 14, seniors Evan Manivong and Victor Perez.

Manivong signed with the University of Illinois and Perez signed with the University of Minnesota, both Division One schools.  

“I was super excited and proud of myself that all my hard work paid off; it felt really good to be signing with all the other athletes on signing day,” said Perez. “Men’s gymnastics is not a very popular sport, so it was nice that the school let us be up there and get some exposure.”

The other sports that had students signing that day were softball, golf, baseball, and soccer.

“I verbally committed on Halloween, but I then had to wait 14 days until signing day, so I was highly anticipating the event,” said Manivong.

This is Perez’s and Manivong’s fourth year doing gymnastics at Fuzion gymnastics in Kearney, Missouri.

 “I liked climbing on things as a baby, so my parents enrolled me into parent and tot classes with them,” said Manivong. “I have been doing gymnastics since I was 3 years old.”

Manivong is a two-time state champion and a four-time team state champion. At junior Olympic Nationals, he earned fourth place on high bar and fifth place on floor. Manivong is the fourth best all-around gymnast in the nation at Junior Olympics Nationals.

“I started gymnastics when I was 10 at a gym in Kansas,” said Perez. “I started because my sister thought I looked like a gymnast, and there was a gym next to where I played indoor soccer.”

Perez is a three-time national qualifier, but he has been hurt the last two years during nationals. He did get first place at regionals on the parallel bars.

“Gymnastics so far has been more of an individual sport trying to prove myself to be good enough to make it onto a college team,” said Perez. “But when I get to Minnesota, it’s definitely more of a team atmosphere, so I’m definitely looking forward to that the most.”