The Lisbon Bronco speech team kicked off their competitive season in January, attending three area speech tournaments. On January 6, the team traveled to Enderlin. Students who placed were senior Olivia Johnson (5th Speech to Entertain, 5th Radio Broadcasting) and freshmen Cailen Adair (2nd Dramatic Interpretation, 3rd Humorous Dramatic Duo), and Kiera Maus (3rd Humorous Dramatic Duo). Seventh-grader Nolan Sutherland was named the Top Novice in Dramatic Interpretation, which is an award given to the highest ranking junior high competitor.
On January 20, the team attended a tournament in Kindred. Adair, Maus, and Sutherland placed. Adair and Maus earned 4th in Humorous Dramatic Duo, Adair received 5th in Dramatic Interpretation, and Sutherland placed 8th in Speech to Entertain.
On January 27, the team headed south to Gwinner where they competed in one of the season’s largest tournaments against 16 area schools, including Class A high schools like West Fargo and Valley City. Adair, Maus, and Sutherland placed again. Adair stamped her ticket to the State Speech Tournament, which is held in Mandan at the end of April, by placing 2nd in Dramatic Interpretation. Typically only first place prequalifies for the state tournament, but in an instance where the top two places go to one Class A student and one Class B student, both advance. Adair and Maus placed 2nd in Humorous Dramatic Duo, and Sutherland placed 8th in Speech to Entertain and 8th in Dramatic Interpretation.
The team is scheduled to attend three meets in February and three more in March, including hosting a meet in Lisbon on March 9. If you know of someone who would be interested in trying Speech, encourage them to reach out to head coach Alexie Adair or assistant coach Megan Hotten.