Weather delays and busy student schedules have plagued the 2023 speech season for Luverne High School, but a full team helped LHS repeat its second-place finish at last week’s subsection competition in Windom.
LHS bested eight other teams for the runner-up position.
Windom took the subsection title.
Students who finished in sixth place or higher in their respective categories qualified for the Section 3A speech tournament scheduled for April 15 in Redwood Falls.
At sections, the top three students in each category qualify for the state speech tournament on April 28-29 in Apple Valley.
Luverne is the defending Section 3A champion.
LHS participants at the subsection tournament, their placings, and competition category are as follows:
•Zander Carbonneau, first, extemporaneous speaking.
•Parker Carbonneau, second, extemporaneous speaking.
•Jessika Tunnissen, second, informative speaking.
•Brianna Kinsinger, second, creative expression.
•Xavier McKenzie, third, informative speaking.
•Elizabeth Mulder, fourth, informative speaking.
•Grace Ingebretsen, fourth, extemporaneous reading.
•Zoey Berghorst, fourth, discussion.
•Roselynn Hartshorn, fifth, original oratory.
•Makayla Oechsle, fifth, discussion.
•Maddy Schepel, sixth, discussion.
•Brooke Vos, sixth, extemporaneous reading.
William Johnson was notified on Monday that he will compete in original oratory at the section meet. He became eligible when the other subsection meet didn’t fill all six available slots in the category.
Luverne had its largest student participation at the subsection meet with 16 students competing, compared with the two previous meets where half that number participated.
“Weather has impacted our competitions quite a bit,” said coach Gavin Folkestad.
As a result, the Big South speech tournament scheduled for March 16 was canceled.
“A few years ago, they tried postponing, but finding a date that worked for all schools and the hired judges proved to be too problematic, especially with the state of spring activities,” Folkestad said.
The same storm that canceled the Big South Tournament prompted the Russell-Tyler-Ruthton invitational to be moved from March 18 to March 21, resulting in a smaller tournament than expected.
Twelve schools competed involving 117 students.
Luverne fielded a team of seven students, placing fifth.
Results for the Luverne speech team at the R-T-R event are as follows:
•Jessika Tunnissen, first, informative speaking.
•Makayla Oechsle, third, discussion.
•Brianna Kinsinger, fourth, creative expression.
•Brooke Vos, fourth, extemporaneous reading.
•Elizabeth Mulder, fourth, informative speaking.
•Grace Ingebretsen, sixth, extemporaneous speaking.
•Brianna Kinsinger and Bethany Behr, eighth, dynamic duo.
Luverne competed at the Minneota speech invitational March 25 with a team of nine students.
“With state basketball, robotics and FCCLA all taking place, this meet was smaller as well,” Folkestad said.
Fourteen schools and 107 students competed in Minneota, where they competed in three rounds with a final round to mimic the state tournament format.
Luverne finished in seventh place as a team with all nine students earning a medal, ribbon or rubber duck.
“They do this for fun,” Folkestad said. “The duck is in place of one or two places out (of the finals).”
In Minneota the LHS team members finished as follows:
•Jessika Tunnissen, second, informative speaking.
•William Johnson, third, original oratory.
•Brianna Kinsinger, fifth, creative expression.
•Elizabeth Mulder, fifth, informative speaking.
•Hannah Kempema, sixth, original oratory.
•Makayla Oechsle, sixth, discussion.
•Cassi Chesley, seventh, discussion.
•Ingrid Mostad and Macrina Reverts, ninth, dynamic duo.