Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper

Potter-Dix are 2016 D2 State Speech Champions

Six students finished competition in top six

Potter-Dix Jr./Sr. High School once again had a strong showing at the Nebraska School Activities Association's (NSAA) State Speech Championship, held last week at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, coming away with the 2016 Class D2 State Champion title and six students placing in the top six in their events.

Coach Claire Smith said she believes Potter-Dix "is one of the strongest in the state for a school of our size."

A total of 43 teams competed in Class D2, with Potter-Dix finishing in first place with a team total of 70 points. Ewing was in second place with 68 points total, Bruning-Davenport and Shickley tied for third place with each scoring a total of 54 points, and tying for fifth place were Hampton and Sargent, each earning 50 points total in the competition.

Since 1983, Potter-Dix has won seven state speech championships, with three coming in the past six years, and was runner-up at the state competition seven times including last year.

Smith attributed the school's long-term speech success to coach Kathy Larson, who she said has guided the program for the 35 years, even returning to assist in the program after retiring in 2013.

"She is very active in speech on a state-wide level and serves as a judge and on the oversight committee," Smith said.

This year's coaches were Smith, Larson and Kristen Kasten.

In individual results for Potter-Dix, Regyn Hicks placed first and was the state champion in Persuasive Speaking, Alana Thies was was third in Serious Prose, Audrey Juelfs finished in fifth place in Poetry, Michaela Rotert took fifth place in Informative Speaking, and the team of Justice Palmer and Keverett Rusk were sixth in Duet.

"We had 13 entries going into state," Smith said. "Of those 13 entries, we had five make it into finals at state."

The speech season officially begins on the first weekend of November. Smith said to prepare, Potter-Dix tries to start its speech season as early as possible, although extended seasons in volleyball and one-act plays can limit the time available.

"We didn't really get started until the second semester in January," she said.

Smith said students begin the season by selecting the event in which they have the most interest. If they want to participate in a group event, however, they are required to participate in an additional event as well.

In speech, there are nine events in which students can participate: Humorous Interpretation of Prose, Serious Interpretation of Prose, Poetry, Informative Speaking, Persuasive Speaking, Extemporaneous Speaking, Entertainment, and group events Duet Acting and Oral Interpretation of Drama.

The students then start writing their speech or selecting from published pieces, depending on the event, which are further revised and polished until they are ready for competition.

"We try to practice whenever we can, as we have to work around sports schedules and other extracurricular activities," Smith said.

The main competitions leading up to state for Potter-Dix are the Minuteman Activities Conference (MAC) speech meet, where this year they finished in second place as a team and won five events, and the district meet, in which Potter-Dix were named the 2016 D2-6 champions and had 12 students in 13 events qualify for the state meet.

Smith said while they wanted to attend more tournaments this year, they were able to take only one entry to the Kimbal Invite, where J.T. Herboldshiemer placed third in Humorous Prose.

This year's speech team was comprised of four seniors, three juniors, two sophomores and four freshmen.

Smith said the 2016 team had a good mix of experienced competitors and eager newcomers, and several of the students really grew into contenders this season.

"There were several unique and outstanding individual efforts made this year that really made us very proud and that were not necessarily reflected in the standings and awards," she said.

For full results, visit nsaahome.org/speech.

 

Reader Comments(0)

 
 
Rendered 03/18/2024 19:56