Pierce Medals One at State Speech
by Haiden Magnussen
The Pierce High speech team took three competitors to state speech at Kearney High School on Wednesday, March 16. At this meet, Pierce took home a fourth place finisher on entertainment speaking, Dalton Svoboda.
Each competitor has three preliminary rounds with five other competitors in each round. Judges give competitors a rank out of everyone in the round along with a score with a maximum of 50. After the preliminary rounds, the top six placings are taken to a fourth and final round.
Head coach Amy Fleer be says, “I am so thankful we were able to take three competitors down to state speech. They competed to the best of their ability, and I'm proud with how they all finished their season. I was very excited Dalton made entertainment finals and finished with fourth place. Overall it was a wonderful way to end our season!”
In extemporaneous speaking, Emma Risinger placed sixth in her first round, fifth in her second round, and fifth in her final round.
Brielle Unseld in her informative speech placed fifth in her first round, third in her second round, and third in her last round.
Bringing home some hardware for Pierce, Svoboda would place first in his first round, third in his second round, and fifth in his third round. This would qualify Svoboda for finals where he would place fourth.
Svoboda says, “I feel like I performed the best I ever have, which was obviously needed at a state meet. It’s awesome to be a state medalist. I fell short from even making it last year, so to be standing on stage this year and receiving a medal from Jay Bellar is awesome. It was just fun to see the best of the best and see all my fellow competitors that I’ve seen all year yet still meet some awesome new people. I couldn’t have been anywhere even close to where I was today if it wasn’t for Ms. Fleer and Alisha. I owe all my success to them, no question.”
This meet concludes the Pierce High speech season.
