For Emily Perkins and her teammates on the Moultrie YMCA gymnastics team it was a dream come true. After years of hard work they finally captured their first team National Championship at the YMCA Nationals in Long Beach, California.

“It meant a lot because, our gym had never done it before and we wanted to reach that goal,” Perkins said. “It’s been a goal for a couple of years and we finally reached it this year. It meant a lot to hang up that first place banner in our gym.”

The first two days of the three-day competition allowed all the gymnasts who had qualified to compete. On the third and final day the competition was cut down to only the top eight gymnasts in each event-floor exercise, vault, balance beam and uneven bars.

“I made it on the third on all the events,” Perkins said. “I was probably going up against on the third day about 25 girls.”

On that third say Perkins claimed the individual national championship on the balance beam with a combined score of 19.075.

“It felt really good and it felt good to know that all my hard work had paid off,” Perkins said. “Beam’s my favorite event so it meant a lot to me to win beam.”

She wasn’t done there though as she also finished on the podium with a third place finish on vault and a third place on the bars. Those three podium finishes and a fourth place in floor exercises were good enough to earn her a third place finish in the all-around competition.

“I knew what I was capable of doing,” Perkins said. “I just did my best.”