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In speech, teams are divided by the number of participants (not by school size). At NL-S, Paynesville took second among medium-sized teams behind Rockford.

BBE took first among small teams with Annandale second. Willmar was first among large schools with NL-S second.

Paynesville was led by senior Caitlin Lien (informative speaking) and ninth grader Karla Leitzman (storytelling), who both placed second and earned medals.

Lien, who has advanced to state the past two years in informative speech, uses bioterrorism as her topic this year.

Leitzman competes in storytelling, where participants chose a story from a given list and must introduce it and tell it from memory.

Eight PAHS students also placed in the top six and earned ribbons. Junior Hailey Bundy (discussion), senior Ashley Frank (original oratory), senior Emily Rainey (creative expression), and ninth grader Ralph Daby (storytelling) all placed fourth for Paynesville and earned a medal.

Ninth grader Kaitlin Burlingame (humorous) and ninth grader Ezra Thompson (great speeches) placed fifth and also earned medals. Ninth grader Natasha Fangmeier (poetry) and sophomore Alyssa Tish (extemporaneous reading) placed sixth and earned medals.

Also earning team points for Paynesville at the NL-S meet were ninth grader Brianna Fischbach (extemporaneous reading), ninth grader Dillon Herem (storytelling), and senior Peder Thompson (poetry).

The speech team will compete in their final regular season meet on Saturday, March 25, at Melrose.