Aurora hosts speech invite

A total of 37 schools compete in Saturday event

  • ayke Krueger of Aurora delivers an Extemporaneous speech during Saturday’s Aurora Invite.
    ayke Krueger of Aurora delivers an Extemporaneous speech during Saturday’s Aurora Invite.

    The Aurora speech team hosted its own invite Saturday, with 37 schools competing in a competition that featured 600 entries throughout the day.
    Aurora speech coach Keli Margritz reported that the contest featured two preliminary rounds for all students, with top performers advancing to Champs and Honors finals. Fifteen students medaled in each of the varsity events, while 10 medaled in the novice events.
    Margritz said she appreciated the help of volunteers and parents of AHS speech team members, who helped her and coach Leah Solko make the day a success.
    The Aurora speech team will compete Saturday at Minden.
    Among the 37 schools were all four area schools, including Aurora, Giltner, Hampton and High Plains. Results from each of those schools were as follows.

    Aurora results
    Novice Extemporaneous — Julia Messere, first; Novice Humorous — Shawn Morris, first; Novice Serious — Joey Ballas, ninth; Novice Persuasive — Charles Wiesen, second; Novice Duet Acting — Charlee Wiesen and Ellie Springer, first; Novice OID — Jack Trotter, Wyatt Heiss, Shawn Morris and JJ Thomas, fifth; Varsity Entertainment — Jessica Rodriguez, fourth; Scott Bennett, 14th; Varsity Humorous — Lena Groetzinger, 13th; Varsity POI — Chloe Fawver, four; Varsity Extemporaneous — Amie Sharp, 10th; Varsity Persuasive — Kennedy Kleinschmidt, third; Keri Wagoner, fifth; Varsity Poetry — Scott Bennett, fourth; Lena Groetzinger, 13th; Team sweepstakes — fourth in Novice, seventh in varsity.
    Performer of the week honors, as voted by the team, went to Jessica Rodriguez.

    Hampton results
    Novice duet acting — Braden Wolinski and Noah Miller, seventh; Novice Entertainment — Mason Weiss, 15th; Novice OID — Braden Wolinski, Mason Weiss, Noah Miller and Dayton Shafer, third; Varsity Extemporaneous — Aydenn Scherff, 12th; Team Novice Sweepstakes, 11th; Team Varsity Sweepstakes, 17th.

    Giltner results
    Novice extemporaneous — Kyron VanHerwyn, 10th; Novice Informative — Addison Bradley, 14th; Novice Oral Interpretation of Humorous Prose — Brooklyn Harder, 11th; Varsity Persuasive — Sophie Faltys, 10th; Varsity Program Oral Interpretation — Sophie Faltys, 10th; Team Novice Sweepstakes, 21st; Team Varsity Sweepstakes, 15th.

    High Plains results
    Varsity Entertainment — Peyton Hofmann, sixth; Courtney Carlstrom, 13th; Team Varsity Sweepstakes, 12th.