The Central Catholic speech team finally got their chance to shine at the Centennial Conference Speech Tournament at Lincoln Christian on Saturday February 28. Although the meet had been rescheduled from the original date of February 14th, it didn’t throw the team off.
The team won the meed with 32 medals and nine first place championships. Awarded first place were Katie Harris in serious prose and in poetry, Alex Wirth in extemporaneous speaking and Rachel Moore in persuasive and in informative. The OID team of Hannah Davis, Sammy Saiyavongsa, Jeremy Hansen and Thomas Olsen also received first.
Second place medal finishes were Arena Govier, informative; Cody and Jacob Nordhues, duet acting; Mikayla Northup, humorous prose; and Adan Suganuma, entertainment speaking. Third place went to Davis in humorous prose, Sophie Foster in poetry, Grace Mohr in extemporaneous speaking and Saiyavongsa in persuasive speaking. Fourth place medals were received by Govier, extemporaneous speaking; Allison LaBrie, persuasive; Callie Newman poetry; Cody Nordhues entertainment. Fifth place went to Nikki Kohles and Jessica Meis in duet acting, Grace Mohr in informative, Jacob Nordhues in humorous, Adam Suganuma in poetry, Alex Wirth in entertainment and Sarah Golka in serious prose. Placing sixth were: Maegan Kellogg, informative; Michael Pfeifer, entertainment and serious prose.
A few short days later, on Tuesday March 3rd, the speech team went to Ord for District competition. At the end of the day, the team landed first place, defeating rivals such as Kearney Catholic. GICC’s state qualifiers, receiving third place or higher, were Hannah Davis in humorous prose, Katie Harris in serious prose and in poetry, Allison LaBrie in persuasive, Rachel Moore in persuasive and in informative, Adam Suganuma in entertainment speaking and the OID team of Hannah Davis, Sammy Saiyavongsa, Thomas Olsen and Jeremy Hansen.
Other medals were awarded to Northup, 4th in humorous prose; Wirth, 4th in extemporaneous speaking; Newman, 5th in poetry; Nordhues and Nordhues, 5th in duet acting; Mohr, 6th in extemporaneous speaking; Pfeifer, 6th in entertainment.
State competition will be held March 19th at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.