Speech team talks a big game
For many years, Minneota's stellar sports programs have been the talk of the town. Now the speech team is doing its best to be included in the conversation.
At the Sub-section 11 tournament this past Saturday in Pipestone, Minneota finished second in the six-team sub-section, just 11 points behind Murray County Central, which had 33 entries. Also competing in the sub-section meet were Tracy-Milroy-Balaton, Russell-Tyler-Ruthton, Westbrook-Walnut Grove/Red Rock Central and Pipestone Area.
“We were able to bring 22 strong entries to one of the toughest sub-sections,” said Coach Kim Gades. “Sixteen of our entries broke into the finals to challenge for a chance to get to the section meet.”
Minneota has progressively shown improvement the last few years as evidenced by the 14 individuals in 13 events advancing to the Section 3A meet at Southwest Minnesota State University on Saturday, April 6.
The top four in each event advance to the section meet. Minneota had three event champions, all juniors – Brenden Kimpe in Extemporaneous Speaking, Sean Dilley in Informative, and Zoe DeBoer in Storytelling. Kimpe and Dilley were also sub-section champions in the same event a season ago.
DeBoer was fourth last year.
Three Vikings finished as runners-up in their events: Ben Engels, a sophomore, in Creative Expression; Jacob Haen, a junior, in Humorous; and senior Rachel Engels in Informative.
Juniors Natalie Bot and Tara Thooft placed third in Duo, while freshman Emma Lipinski was third in Great Speeches, and freshman Alyssa Engels was third in Original Oratory. Bot and Thooft were also competing in the FCCLA State Convention in Bloomington at the same time.
“We’d like to thank LeaAnne Bot for sharing the kids with us this weekend,” said Gades. “We’d also like to thank Debbie Thooft for transporting the girls back so they could compete (in the sub-section speech tournament) on Saturday.”
“We have great, committed parents who are very supportive of their kids being involved with this activity.” Also qualifying for the upcoming section meet were fourth-place finishers Cecilia Rabaey, a junior, in Creative Expression; senior Trevor Belaen in Discussion, seventh-grader Joe Voit in Extemporaneous Speaking, and freshman Morgen Wersal in Poetry.
Placing in the finals and advancing to sections as alternates were: junior Cora Bolt, fifth in Poetry; freshman Tristan Bierschenk, sixth in Discussion; and eighth-grader Ella Bot, seventh in Extemporaneous Reading.
“This sub-section meet is a little different in the way it is structured,” Gades explained.
“Competitors complete two scheduled rounds and then are sorted into finals.”
Regular season meets are generally three rounds, which are sometimes followed by a final. Also competing in this sub-section meet were: junior Jackson Jeremiason, sophomore Katie Walerius, freshman Thomas Belaen, eighth-graders Reagan Bierschenk and Joey Clark, and seventh-grader Cora Fischer.
“It was a great day for speech,” said Gades. “We are ready to head on to sections.”
Since the sub-section tournament is run by the coaches, Gades and assistant Amanda Engels didn’t get to interact with the team members in the tab room, draw room or just sitting down to talk with them between rounds.
“In short, we don’t get to see the kids as much as we normally do,” said Gades.
“We both tried to make contact with the kids at some point in the day, but it’s just a little more difficult. The kids really have to be responsible and take care of themselves. And they did such a great job.”
Because she was assisting with the tournament, Gades was able to hand out the awards.
“One of the highlights of the day for me was getting to hug our sub-section champions and our seniors on the team,” she said.
“These playoffs are a difficult thing to coach.”
“On one hand, you’re ecstatic for the kids who break into the finals. But on the other hand, you have to grieve with those who didn’t quite make the cut. It makes it especially difficult because this is an activity that is so subjective with the judges.”
Photo: The Minneota Speech Team includes: (Front row, left to right) Reagan Bierschenk, Ella Bot, Natalie Bot, Joey Clark and Zoe DeBoer. Second row: Cora Fischer, Katie Walerius, Tara Thooft, Ben Engels and Cora Bolt. Third row: Alyssa Engels, Rachel Engels and Jacob Haen. Fourth row: Cecilia Rabaey, Emma Lipinski and Morgen Wersal. Fifth Row: Trevor Belaen, Joe Voit, Thomas Belaen and Tristan Bierschenk. Back Row: Brenden Kimpe, Jackson Jeremiason and Sean Dilley. Special Photo.