The Blog

Speech Team Wins District, Qualifies Eight Entries for State

On Wednesday, March 25, the speech team traveled to Minden to compete in the C2-4 district meet. The other schools at the meet were Amherst, Axtell, Blue Hill, Elm Creek, Franklin, Harvard, Hastings St. Cecilia, and Ravenna.

Of the team’s 14 entries, 11 received medals for placing in the top six. Eight of those entries placed in the top three, qualifying for the Class C-2 state meet, and three entries became the district event champions: Taylor Van Pelt in extemporaneous speaking, Jessica Hilderbrand in persuasive speaking, and Alicia Kim and Grace Wu in duet acting.

State Qualifiers. Row 1: Marilla Flynn, Isabella Yang, Alicia Kim, Christina Bailey, Jessica Hilderbrand, John Tran. Row 2: Skyler Qu, Grace Wu, Taylor Van Pelt, MaKenna Loy, Wendy Bornmann, Morgan Schulze.

The team won the district title with 288 points to runner-up St. Cecilia’s 180 points.

The state qualifiers will compete at UNK on Friday, March 27. There is no admission charge, and the full schedule can be viewed here. Note that Isabella Yang & Skyler Qu’s duet round will be live streamed at 11 a.m. You can watch it here.

District Results
Entertainment: Marilla Flynn, 2nd.
Informative: Morgan Schulze, 2nd.
Serious Prose: Hannah Ritta, 5th; Cole Ruybalid, 6th.
Extemp: Taylor Van Pelt, 1st.
Persuasive: Jessica Hilderbrand, 1st; John Tran, 3rd.
Duet: Alicia Kim & Grace Wu, 1st; Isabella Yang & Skyler Qu, 3rd.
OID: Alicia Kim, Marilla Flynn, Christina Bailey, MaKenna Loy, Wendy Bornmann, 2nd; Cole Ruybalid, Hannah Ritta, Jessica Hilderbrand, Brittany Ritta, 5th.

Pictured Above: The NC District Speech Team. Row 1: Alicia Kim, Isabella Yang, John Tran, William Le, Jessica Hilderbrand, Hannah Ritta. Row 2: Skyler Qu, Grace Wu, Marilla Flynn, Christina Bailey, Wendy Bornmann, Katie Nyberg. Row 3: Head Coach Charissa Smith, Assistant Coach Becky Ritta, Assistant Coach Ruth Ferris, Taylor Van Pelt, Brittany Ritta, MaKenna Loy, Morgan Schulze, Chris Hilderbrand, Cole Ruybalid.