Participants and their categories were: Ryan Lang and Amber Ingalsbe, drama; Bridget Mueller, great speeches; Trish Hemmesch, and Becca Werlinger, dramatic duo.
Sub-sections were held March 27 at Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa. The top six speakers in each category advanced to sections, and two alternates were also named. Ingalsbe placed second, advancing to sections. Lang placed eighth and was named an alternate to sections.
The section meet took place on April 7 at Dassel-Cokato. Sections are the final step before state competition, and each of the speakers performed well. Ingalsbe missed advancing to the section finals by one point.
Middle school speech
Paynesville’s middle school speech team had a really successful season. The students competed in five meets, including Little Falls, Willmar and St. Cloud.
The final event they attended was a senior high meet in Willmar with over 600 students competing.
Paynesville took some unique entries to meets.
Eighth grader Lauren Vork worked on a piece she found on the Internet based on Les Miserables by Victor Hugo.
Eighth grader Melissa Bachman tracked down a modern retelling of Romeo and Juliet that she performed at a meet last year.
Sixth grader Sami Tierney ventured into taking the role of a rather cantankerous boy trying to convince his mother to let him get a dog and skip dancing lessons.
Eighth grader Naomi Bork did excellent work with an anonymous piece that appeared in the high school paper about a girl who chose not to drink at a party but was hit by someone who did.