COKATO GYMNASTICS

Cokato High School’s first girls gymnastic team. Photograph from the 1971 Cokato High School Yearbook. 

During the 1970-1971 school year, the year before Title IX was passed, the Cokato High School incorporated girls varsity gymnastics and golf as its first school sanctioned sports for girls since it dropped basketball in 1931. Cokato’s first girls gymnastics team was comprised of fifteen students from seventh through tenth grade. They were Paula Benson, Kelly Kivi, Mary Bernhart, Kathy Hentges, Marianne Pokornowski, Teri Kivi, Bonnie Gillman, Mary Jilek, Rori Ortquist, Julie Kallstrom, Julie Oelrich, Loretta Nikkola, Diane Monson, Viki Peterson, and Regina Ziegler.

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