Emma Lipinski scored another speech championship at the Pipestone meet.

Four firsts; Speech team second

Four score! The Minneota Speech team came away with four event champions at the Pipestone Invitational on Saturday. “We had 12 Vikings make it to the finals,” said coach Kim Gades.

“That's the most we've had at this particular tournament.”

The Pipestone Meet was run much like the meet the previous week at Southwest Minnesota State University, in that there were three preliminary rounds and a final.

Minneota, which was missing some of its members due to illness, still managed to put on impressive showing; finishing second in the Large Team Division behind Luverne.

“Even without Natalie Bot and Tara Thooft in Duo, Thomas Belaen in Storytelling, and Cora Fischer in Poetry, we were still within eight points,” Gades noted.

“Lots of kids stepped up to the challenge on Saturday.”

After the final round, first-place event champions from Minneota were: Zoe DeBoer in Storytelling, Sean Dilley in Informative, Emma Lipinski in Great Speeches, and Brenden Kimpe in Extemporaneous Speaking. It was the third straight first-place event finish for Kimpe.

“The Pipestone Meet is always a well-run tournament and a good tune-up right before sub-sections,” said Gades.

Also placing for the Vikings were: Alyssa Engels, second in Original Oratory; Jacob Haen, second in Humorous; Cecilia Rabaey, second in Creative Expression; Morgen Wersal, second in Poetry; Trevor Belaen, third in Discussion; Rachel Engels, third in Informative; Tristan Bierschenk, fifth in Discussion; and Cora Bolt, fifth in Poetry.

Receiving ribbons were: Jackson Jeremiason in Humorous, Ben Engels in Creative Expressions, and Joe Voit in Extemporaneous Speaking. “I’m so proud of this team and what they have accomplished this year,” Gades exclaimed.

“They have really turned it on the last couple of weeks and shown what they are made of.” Minneota returns to Pipestone on Saturday for the sub-section meet.

“Our sub-section and section are very competitive,” said Gades, “Our kids are hard workers and have proven that if you work hard, good things will happen.”

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