AHS Speech Team Wins C1-6 District Competition

by Mary Rau

March 09, 2010

On Saturday, February 27, Ainsworth Community Schools hosted the C1-6 District Speech Contest. Other teams attending were Bayard, Bridgeport, Gordon-Rushville, Hershey, Kearney Catholic, Kimball, Morrill, and Southern Valley.

Ainsworth won the district, scoring 131 points and qualifying ten events for the NSAA State Speech Contest on March 18-19 on the UNK campus in Kearney.

    The results were as follows:
1st: Meg Maxwell—Informative Speaking   STATE QUALIFIER
Jordyn Lechtenberg—Persuasive Speaking   STATE QUALIFIER
Vance Heyer—Entertainment Speaking    STATE QUALIFIER
2nd: Kayla Klammer—Humorous Prose   STATE QUALIFIER
Kayla Klammer—Serious Prose   STATE QUALIFIER
Emma Goodloe—Entertainment Speaking   STATE QUALIFIER
3rd: Tessa Jacobsen—Informative Speaking   STATE QUALIFIER
Emma Goodloe—Poetry   STATE QUALIFIER
Vance Heyer—Extemporaneous Speaking   STATE QUALIFIER
Lars Johnson, Rhe’Ann McBride, Ciara Philben, Nate Rau, Jon Theis—OID STATE QUALIFIERS
4th: Reilly Hoch—Humorous Prose
Rhe’Ann McBride & Maggie Steinhauser—Duet Acting
6th: Ciara Philben—Poetry
Neiley Fernau—Persuasive Speaking
Nate Rau & Jon Theis—Duet Acting
Katie Brown, Whitley McBride, Steve Parker, Amanda Theis—OID
Superiors: Conner Kozisek—Extemporaneous Speaking
Savannah Clapper—Serious Prose

    “This contest turned out better than I could have imagined,” said Coach Mary Rau. “For the first time in my coaching career, every district entry received an award. The team came to districts ready to do their best, and that’s exactly what happened.
    “We were going against schools that we hadn’t seen in the regular season, so that was a little nerve-wracking, but speech is about focus, and nothing was going to shake our focus going into this competition.
    “Ainsworth has eleven speakers competing in ten events at the state tournament in Kearney on March 18. This is an exciting time for the team, but we still have work to do to prepare for state.”