Gering speech season at a glance

The Gering Bulldog Barkers dominated at districts on Saturday, sending all 18 of their events into the final round, a feat not often accomplished by any school. Out of those 18 events, ten of them will be representing Gering High School at the state competition in Kearney next week.

Head speech coach Tyler Thompson said he was very pleased with how the day went, especially with all the outside factors that could have affected his team’s success.

During her sophomore year of high school, Anna Ossian lost a bet with her friends, which forced her to go out for speech.

Ossian, now a senior at Gering High School, said she didn’t think she would even make it past the first meet. Now, she has placed at almost every meet in her informative speaking event.

Senior Anais Barraza went out on a limb after speech coach Tyler Thompson convinced her to do a duet with her younger sister and sophomore Nayeli.

Barraza said that neither of them were sure about it at first, especially since it would be both of their first years doing speech. But it wasn’t long that Barraza realized how much she enjoyed the activity.

As speech season starts heading into post season, the Gering Barkers once again take team top honors at Saturday’s Western Trails Conference Invite at Scottsbluff High School.

SHS took third in the conference meet behind Chadron.

Senior Olivia Longmore has been living at the high school this winter, oftentimes not heading home until late into the evening. Being in both mock trial and speech at the same time makes for long days after school.

“This year’s very difficult for me, at least, because I’m also in mock trial,” she said. “I don’t think I’ve left the school at least till nine or 10 p.m. every night. I wish I were exaggerating, but I’m here all the time.”

Senior Lydia Connot smiles a little too enthusiastically as she shares her crafty creations with each speech judge she performs her entertainment speech in front of. Desperate to impress the judges with the contents of her Etsy shop, “Lydia’s Luscious Luxuries,” she hands out feathered, googly-eyed button pins for the judges to keep.

Connot has participated in speech all four years of high school. She struggled her freshman year with humorous prose, but found her calling in entertainment speaking the next year, placing fourth at districts, one placement shy of going to state. She said her speech junior year was the one to beat.

Senior Victoria Mannel took a sip of her invisible alcohol beverage as she poetically described the feeling of grief in the eyes of someone else.

This is Mannel’s first year doing poetry, an event in which the speaker chooses various poems surrounding a specific topic and presents them through his or her own interpretation.

Sometimes you just need a little extra push to try something new. That’s exactly what Gering speech coach Tyler Thompson did for senior Logan Andrews.

Andrews is only in his second year of speech, but the main reason he’s in it at all is because of Thompson.

Extemporaneous speaking is a “love it” or “hate it” kind of event in speech. At least, that’s what Gering senior Trent Davis said.

“People either love it or hate it. You got to be the right type of person to love it. Not everyone can just do it,” he said.

For Gering senior Colton Thompson, the best parts about speech meets are the burritos. Any time there are concessions, he’ll get a burrito and a Mountain Dew to wash it down. He said it’s kind of become a ritual for him.

Of course, he was only joking — mostly.

Gering High School dominated once again at its home speech invite Friday, Feb. 12, winning the sweepstakes with a whopping 294 points. Ogallala High School took runner-up with 156 points, over a hundred behind the champion team.

The Barkers were the only team in the entire invite to have competitors make champion finals or honor finals in every event, oftentimes more than one. In fact, speakers from Gering ended up in every single champion finals event except in duet acting, where Mitchell and Scottsbluff occupied most of the finalist spots.

When it comes to humor, facial expressions can make or break a performance, which is likely why Gering senior Mackenzie Gable has had such success in her speech career.

This year, she is in Oral Interpretation of Drama (OID) and humorous prose, both of which require some over-the-top facials. Between the two, though, Gable has a hard time choosing a favorite.

“Refrigerators are pretty friggin’ cool,” according to Gering senior Emme Parker. At least, that’s what she says in her informative speech on refrigeration, which has placed her in the top six finalists at most speech meets this year.

Most people wouldn’t necessarily find refrigeration that “friggin’ cool,” but Parker uses fun props, clever word play and interesting factoids to draw her audience in to the coolness of refrigerators.