Plainview’s speech team traveled to Kearney for the NSAA Class C2 speech tournament on Thursday, March 17, and came home with a top four team, a state champion, and several medalists.
“We had a great day. I told the kids that my goal was to end up in the top five teams, and we achieved that goal,” said Coach Michelle Mosel. “The competition was excellent and our speakers held their own.”
Out of nine events, four speakers made it to finals.
Brittani Gutz was a state champion in informative speaking. Gutz had two firsts and one second-place from the finals judges.
The OID team of Heather Pendergast, Leighton Medina, Brett Norris, Derek Rix, and Brittani Gutz earned second place. The team had two second-place ranks and one fifth place rank for their 143 points.
Emma King brought home a 5th place medal in persuasive speaking. She had one fourth and two fifth rankings by the judges.
Reagan Choat also won 5th place in extemporaneous speaking. Choat had two fourths and one sixth from the finals judges.
Additional state qualifiers were Heather Pendergast in persuasive speaking. Pendergast missed finals by one point and finished in 7th place.
Lauren Jelinek earned 8th place in informative speaking. Brett Norris finished 12th in entertainment, Leighton Medina finished 12th in humorous, and Marque Albin finished 13th in poetry.
“I will miss these seniors, but I have a fantastic group of underclassmen I look forward to coaching next year,” said Mosel.
The Pirate team took fourth-place overall with 64 team points. Hartington-Newcastle ran away with the tournament with 118 team points, Twin River came in second with 70 team points, and Elmwood-Murdock was third with 64 team points.
The team competition had 22 other teams in the C2 Class competition.