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The Class A competition was held on Friday at Centennial High School in Lino Lakes while the Class AA competition was held on Saturday.

Seniors Melissa Andrie (discussion) and Callie Frieler (storytelling) and sophomore Caitlin Lien (informative speech) competed in the state meet. Each qualified by placing in the top three at section competition.

Each competed in three preliminary rounds, but none of the PAHS students advanced to the finals, where the top eight competitors perform a fourth time for their final ranking.

Frieler, who tied for ninth, came the closest among the Paynesville students to making the final.

In storytelling, Frieler must be familiar with 15 stories. At each meet, competitors draw three stories and must choose one to perform. They have a half hour to prepare and then have two to six minutes to introduce their story and give their interpretation of it.

Students do not have to memorize the story or give it word for word, but they need to follow the plot and perform it dramatically.

Andrie competed at state for a second time, having competed at state two years ago in original oratory. Her event, discussion, involves a group talk, with give-and-take like a debate, but with a goal to compromise and reach a consensus. The topic this year is poverty, and each round participants discuss a different aspect of poverty.

Lien competes in informative speech, where she makes a business-like presentation using visual aids. Her topic is dreams, and she explains the various stages of sleep and the accompanying type of dreams as well as giving a history of the interpretation of dreams. Lien researched her topic and wrote her speech herself. Her category limits her to an eight-minute presentation.

Three other PAHS students - senior Sami Tierney, sophomore Emily Mehr, and senior Maureen Flanders - served as state alternates. They each placed in the top five at sections in their event.

In the last three years, seven PAHS students have qualified for state in speech. In 2002, Andrie and Hannah Felling competed at state, with Felling taking seventh. In 2003, Courtney Colbert, Peter Schreifels, and Tierney competed at state. And in 2004, Andrie, Frieler, and Lien competed at state.