Speech Team Competes in Rigorous Meet
As conference and districts quickly approach, the Pierce High speech team competed in their final regular-season meet on Saturday, February 20 at the annual Battle Creek Brave Classic. Five varsity members and nine junior varsity members medaled at one of the most difficult and competitive meets of the season. In addition to individual and team placings, the Battle Creek Brave Classic awards individual sweepstakes medals to competitors who collect the most points overall, in both the varsity and junior varsity divisions. Cady Reinke, a junior at Pierce High, won the fifth place individual sweepstakes for junior varsity.
Micah Bahnfleth, Zach Halsey, Jacob Jones, Kaelee Stuchlik, and Emily Taylor were the varsity medalists for Pierce High. Stuchlik achieved two varsity medals: third place in extemporaneous speaking and sixth in persuasive speaking. Bahnfleth, Halsey, and Jones took away a fifth place with their oral interpretation of drama piece, while Taylor finished sixth in humorous prose.
In the junior varsity section, individual sweepstakes medalist Reinke earned third in serious prose, as well as first in oral interpretation of drama with partners Swara Fadnis and Amy Fleer. The Pierce JV team took three of the six medals for duet acting: Bahnfleth and Jones took the gold, while Molly Harris and Laurie Venteicher finished as runners-up. Fadnis and Elyssa Leach placed fifth with their duet. Christian Fisher earned sixth in humorous prose.
Individual sweepstakes medalist Cady Reinke said, “I thought I did very well, especially since it was my last meet for serious prose and oral interpretation of drama. It was a difficult meet, so it was much harder for our team to get higher ranks. Even without our whole team being there, we did very well.”
Speech coach Mrs. Crys Bauermeister said, “Despite the missing members, I really thought our team did well since this is one of the toughest meets of the season. We hope we are well prepared for conference and districts.”
The conference speech meet will be held on Saturday, February 27 in Wayne. The B-4 District contest will follow two days later at Pierce High School on Monday, March 1. This meet will begin at 9:30, and admission is free. State qualifiers will then compete at the University of Nebraska – Kearney on Thursday, March 18.
