Minneota sends 10 to sectionals

One by one, they came down from the bleachers with smiles on their faces as their category was called out by Kim Gades, the Minneota speech coach who was announcing the winners of the South sub-section meet Saturday.
Because COVID hit many of the area speech teams hard, reducing the number of participants in the past two years, all of those participating automatically qualified for the Section 3A meet Saturday, April 10 at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall. The top three in each category there will advance to the state meet.
Still, the fact that all the sub-section participants were advancing no matter what place they were about to received didn't distract from the awards ceremony.
As Gades read off the place winners in reverse order, each student received a round of applause from the other schools. And as the champion is announced, they receive a brief standing ovation.
Alyssa Engels and Joe Voit were sub-section champions in their respective category.
Engels, a Minneota senior, placed first in Original Oratory for the second straight week. The Mascot named her the Performer of the Week last week after winning at Montevideo.
Voit, a sophomore, was judged first in Extemporaneous Speaking.
Reagan Bierschenk, a junior, placed second in Informative; Emma Lipinski, a senior, was third in Prose; Noah Harms, an eighth-grader, was third in Humorous; Joey Clark, a junior, placed third in Storytelling; Thomas Belaen, a senior, was fourth in Storytelling; Cora Fischer. a sophomore, was fifth in Great Speeches; and Melanie Engels, an eighth-grader, was sixth in Storytelling.
Murray County Central won the team portion of the sub-section meet with 70 points. Russell-Tyler-Ruthton was second with 59 points and Westbrook-Walnut Grove/Red Rock Central was third with 41.
Like most events, team winners in speech meets are based on the total number of points amassed. The difference, though, is the more team members you have, the better chance you have at winning. Minneota has only 10 team members, so even if all 10 placed first, another team with many more members could surpass them in points.
Two years ago, Minneota had 26 team members. But when COVID forced events to become virtual, fewer students came out for speech after that at most schools.
There may have been fewer students involved in the sub-section meet this year, but there wasn't any less excitement.