Speech Team Third at Boone
Emma Risinger
On Saturday, January 21, the Pierce High speech team loaded up the bus for the Boone Central Invitational, where both the varsity and JV teams each received third place.
Starting off with varsity medalists, in entertainment speaking, Dalton Svoboda ranked fourth and Bode Hoffman placed fifth.
Up next, Brielle Unseld placed third in informative.
In humorous prose, Pierce had two medalists, Alyssa Cederburg in fourth and Kaila Spieker finished in sixth place.
Emma Risinger and Keli Shermer placed fourth and sixth in persuasive speaking, respectively.
And the last of the varsity medalists were two of Pierce’s duets: Svoboda and Spieker in second and Unseld and Nikolas Harvey in fourth place.
Svoboda placed in two of the three events he took to Boone, and he shared his thoughts on his own performance and that of the team when he said, “I am very happy with my performance. It was my first meet, and I was just happy to get at least one medal. The team also showed a lot of improvement from the Pierce meet. I have a lot of confidence that we will be getting plaques and trophies soon. Just because I got some medals does not mean I am content for the next meet. I will not let up in my practice time at all. Can't wait to see what the rest of the season has in store for both myself and the team.”
As for the JV team, Alexis Sporleder placed fifth in entertainment.
Next, Nickolas Efta placed fifth in extemporaneous speaking, just ahead of Carl Vogt in sixth place.
Lillian Blank placed second in poetry, followed by Chelsey Ottis in fourth.
In serious prose, Mya Johnson ranked third.
Vogt also placed in persuasive speaking, finishing fifth.
Finally, Aubree Uribe, Colbie Podany, and Grace Retzlaff’s oral interpretation of drama came in fifth place.
Following the meet, head coach Miss Amy Fleer explains, "I was very pleased with our team's growth this week and our third place finish in both varsity and JV! There is still a lot to improve on, and I'm hoping we can see more medalists in the top three this next week."
The PHS speech team will next be competing in their third meet of the season at Hartington on Saturday, January 28.
