Return to Archived Stories

At speech meets, schools are divided by team size. Twenty-two teams competed at the PAHS meet, where teams were divided into three groups: large, medium, and small.

Senior Lauren Vaske led the PAHS speech team by placing fourth in great speeches at their home meet on Saturday, Feb. 18.

St. Cloud Cathedral took first among large teams, with Willmar second. Annandale was first among medium teams, with PAHS second. Litchfield placed first among small teams, with Melrose second.

Five PAHS speechers placed in the top eight at the home meet.

Junior Erica Geurts and senior Lauren Vaske led the team with fourth-place finishes, earning medals. Geurts competes in creative expression and has written an original farce involving two Greek gods.

Vaske, who competes in great speeches, is using a speech by Elie Wiesel, a holocaust survivor and the Noble Peace Prize winner in 1986, entitled "The Perils of Indifference" this year. Wiesel gave the speech in April 1999 to the United Nations, warning about the dangers of standing by quietly to injustice.

Senior Caitlin Lien (seventh in informative speech), sophomore Natasha Fangmeier (eighth in poetry), and ninth grader Karla Leitzman (eighth in storytelling) all earned ribbons for Paynesville.

Also earning team points for Paynesville were: junior Hailey Bundy (discussion), ninth grader Kaitlin Burlingame (humorous speech), sophomore Katrina Daby (humorous), ninth grader Ralph Daby (storytelling), sophomore Meghan Doll (extemporaneous reading), ninth grader Briana Fischbach (extemporaneous reading), ninth grader Jayna Flanders (drama), senior Ashley Frank (original oratory), senior Emily Rainey (creative expression), junior Cary Schlick (prose), ninth grader Ezra Thompson (great speeches), sophomore Alyssa Tish (extemporaneous reading), and ninth grader Travis Wensmann (humorous speech).

Willmar Meet
The PAHS speech team also competed at Willmar on Thursday with seven students placing in the top eight and earning medals.

Lien was first in informative speech, her third first-place finish in four meets so far this year. Her topic this year is bioterrorism. She has advanced to state the last two years in this event.

Rainey (creative expression) and Vaske (great speeches) both finished fourth at Willmar. Rainey's speech for creative expression is an original piece about a battered woman.

Bundy placed sixth in discussion, Leitzman sixth in storytelling, Geurts sixth in creative expression, Ralph Daby seventh in storytelling, and Burlingame eighth in humorous. Bundy also received a Outstanding Achievement Award for her steady dedication to the team, said coach Joan Nevitt.

Katrina Daby (humorous) and ninth grader Dillon Herem (storytelling) also earned team points for PAHS at the Willmar meet.

SCSU Meet
The PAHS speech team ended their busy week by competing at St. Cloud State University on Saturday.

Lien advanced to the final round and earned a trophy in informative speech by placing third.

Vaske and Geurts also advanced to the final round, with Vaske taking seventh in great speeches and Geurts taking eighth in creative expression. Both earned medals.

Fischbach (extemporaneous reading) and Frank (original oratory) both earned a ribbon for being named honorable mention. Fischbach, along with Burlingame (humorous), also was named a top novice and earned another ribbon.

Also earning team points for Paynesville at the meet were: Bundy, Katrina Daby, Ralph Daby, Doll, Fangmeier, Flanders, ninth grader Dillon Herem (storytelling), Leitzman, Rainey, Ezra Thompson, junior Peder Thompson (poetry), and Tish.

On Saturday, the speech team will compete in a meet at Sauk Centre.

Their remaining schedule is: Saturday, March 11, at Kimball; Saturday, March 18, at NL-S; Saturday, March 25, at Melrose; Saturday, April 1, subsections; Saturday, April 8, sections; and Saturday, April 22, state.