Ord Speech District Champions, One State Medalist

By Ben Lansman

On Saturday, March 16 the Chanticleers made their way to North Platte where they competed in the C1-5 District Speech Contest. There were 8 teams competing (Ord, Centura, Ravenna, Kearney Catholic, Grand Island Central Catholic, Gibbon, Southern Valley, Wood River) and each team can send two competitors in each category. Out of Ord’s 18 entries, 15 of them made it to finals giving them the District title! “We knew we were going to have to compete well to secure the win today and overall our kids did just that” said Coach Ben Lansman. “We had some great surprises on the day, as well as some disappointments. But we are very proud of the season they had.” Ord scored 186 points on the day and runner up Centura had 170 with Ravenna in third scoring 104 points. The results for the day were…Duet Acting: Katie Magiera and Abby Jacobs 3rd (State Qualifier), Halle Jacobs and Addie Sich 5th; Entertainment: Maya Brown 3rd (State Qualifier), Ashley Bruha 7th; Extemporaneous: Cooper Sheets 3rd (State Qualifier), Ashley Bruha; Informative: Katie Fischer 2nd (State Qualifier); O.I.D.: “Spaceballs” Katharine Wadas, Trevor Vancura, Cooper Sheets, Katie Magiera, Kora Severance 1st (State Qualifier), “Sister Cities” Katie Fischer, Richele Masin, Addie Sich, Abby Jacobs; Humorous: Kora Severance 5th, Maya Brown 6th; Poetry: Richele Masin 1st (State Qualifier), Mykala Lytle 7th; Serious: Katharine Wadas 3rd (State Qualifer); Mykala Lytle 6th; Persuasive: Halle Jacobs 1st (State Qualifier), Leah Westberg 7th. The coaches could not be more proud of our team and excited for those who were lucky enough to move on to the state meet. So much time and preparation goes into getting ready for one meet – which is what makes it so tough to have one district judge tell you they preferred something different.

On Thursday, March 21 the state qualifiers traveled to UNK to compete in the Class C1 State Speech Tournament. Here they would face the top 18 in their respective categories from the other five districts across the state. The top 6 in each category advance to finals. By far this is the more concentrated source of competition that any of them will have faced all season long. Results…Duet: Abby Jacobs and Katie Magiera 8th; Entertainment: Maya Brown 8th; Extemp: Cooper Sheets 13th; Informative: Katie Fischer 9th; OID: “Spaceballs” 17th; Poetry: Richele Masin 13th; Serious: Katharine Wadas 9th; Persuasive: Halle Jacobs 6th (Medalist). “In the end, Halle was able to qualify for finals and had a tremendous day. We talked all year long about what it would take and how hard state would be, but Halle kept working and striving to improve her speech and herself. She deserves this honor and we are so proud of her! We were disappointed that a few more of our events did not make it into finals. We had a couple tough breaks that did not fall our way and ran into some judges who had different perspectives and feedback than we had received all season – but it was tough competition. We know our kids and how hard they worked. That is what we are proud of – and could not be more excited to see where they will go in the future! Congrats to all of the state qualifiers across C1 on a job well done!”

Front Row: Kora Severance (OID), Richele Masin (Poetry) Second Row: Halle Jacobs (Persuasive), Katie Fischer (Informative), Abby Jacobs (Duet), Katie Magiera (Duet, OID) Cooper Sheets (Extemp, OID), Katharine Wadas (Serious, OID), Trevor Vancura (OID), Maya Brown (Entertainment)Front Row: Addie Sich, Katie Magiera, Abby Jacobs, Hannah Masin Second Row: Ashley Bruha, Marlee Nebesniak, Katie Fischer, Halle Jacobs, Mykala Lytle, Leah Westberg, Kora Severance, Callee Alexander Back Row: Coach Ashley Trampe, Maya Brown, Annie Struckman, Richele Masin, Trevor Vancura, Coach Ben Lansman, Katharine Wadas, Cooper Sheets, Coach Brian Wamberg

Halle Jacobs - 6th PersuasiveHalle Jacobs - 6th Persuasive (Podium)