Gering’s Bulldog Barkers secured 15 spots at state in a hotly contested district speech contest in Gothenburg last week.
“It was truly a shootout,” said Gering speech coach Tyler Thompson. “Both we and Gothenburg broke all 20 of our entries into finals, and which team won the district title came down to the final placements of both teams’ speakers.”
The Barkers narrowly came out on top, securing 342 sweeps points to Gothenburg’s 300. The team also claimed seven individual event championships in addition to their 15 entries at the state contest, which Thompson said is the most entries he’s seen in his time as head coach.
Thompson took the opportunity to reflect on the Barkers’ successful season and looks ahead to next week’s state competition.
“I am very proud of this team; they have worked extremely hard and sacrificed a lot this season in order to be successful,” he said. “We’ve had a team motto these past few weeks that succinctly summarizes what we hope to see next week in Kearney: ‘Everything goes our way.’ And with kids as talented and hard-working as these, it very likely could.”
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The Bulldog Barkers’ individual districts results are as follows:
Oral Interpretation of Drama
Samuel Martindale, Max Schlothauer, Zephaniah Henderson, Regan Fuller and Lily Kadolph, 2nd (state qualifier)
Dominic Marostica, Hannah Boyd, Thomas Connot, Gavin De Los Santos and Abi Prohs, 1st (state qualifier)
Extemporaneous Speaking
Max Schlothauer, 2nd (state qualifier)
Natalie Peterson, 1st (state qualifier)
Duet Acting
Dominic Marostica and Mason Barrett, 2nd (state qualifier)
Wyatt Soule and Kaitlyn Peterson, 1st (state qualifier)
Humorous Prose
Gavin De Los Santos, 5th
Hannah Boyd, 2nd (state qualifier)
Serious Prose
Wyatt Soule, 3rd (state qualifier)
Aphia Boyd, 1st (state qualifier)
Poetry
Emily Coakley, 4th
Regan Fuller, 3rd (state qualifier)
Program Oral Interpretation
Haylee Betzold, 4th
Kaitlyn Peterson, 1st (state qualifier)
Entertainment Speaking
Ella Thomas, 5th
Abi Prohs, 4th
Informative Speaking
Ella Thomas, 3rd (state qualifier)
Maddie Seiler, 1st (state qualifier)
Persuasive Speaking
Mason Barrett, 3rd (state qualifier)
Maddie Seiler, 1st (state qualifier)
The NSAA State Speech Championships began Wednesday, March 15, in Kearney.
The Banner County Speech Team also saw four students qualify for state at the D-2 district meet in Arthur on March 7. This marks the third year in a row that Banner County students have qualified for state speech.
The following Banner County students will compete in Kearney on March 17:
Karleigh Leslie and Amanda Montelongo, 3rd place in Duet Acting
Isaac Olsen, 3rd place in Informative Speaking
Conrad Kaminski, 2nd place in Humorous Prose
Also medaling at districts was Abby Jones in 5th place for Humorous Prose.
“I’m very proud of all the speech kids,” said Rick Caudillo, Banner County speech coach. “They have worked hard all season and have overcome many obstacles. Three of the state qualifiers are only in their first year of speech, and Isaac is in his second year.”
State results were not available as of press time. Visit geringcourier.com for more information about state speech.
