Kearney High School will host the 2025 NSAA State Speech Championships, which will be held for Classes A and B on Wednesday, March 26th; Classes C1 and C2 on Thursday, March 27th; and Classes D1 and D2 on Friday, March 28th. 47 speakers will represent 14 schools at the state meet, three of which will participate in Unified Speech. The top three speakers in each event qualified for the state contest. Check out the blog to see how the district contests shook out and who qualified for the state contest.
Class C2
C2-5
Alma, Arapahoe, and Southern Valley competed in the C2-5 District hosted by GICC on March 18th.
Mikah Schultz of Southern Valley placed 4th in extemporaneous speaking, just missing out on qualifying for state.
In informative speaking, Briana Lentz of Arapahoe placed 5th.
In humorous prose, Lael Rathbun of Arapahoe qualified for state, placing 2nd.
Kaylan Ogier of Alma placed 3rd in poetry to qualify for state. AJ Melhus of Arapahoe placed 5th.
In serious prose, Isabelle Roberts placed 3rd to qualify for state, and Juliana Hanzlick placed 5th.
Paisley Zodrow of Arapahoe placed 4th, just missing state in persuasive, as well as Bobbie Dunn of Arapahoe, who placed 4th in the program oral interpretation.
C2-6
Maxwell hosted the C2-6 District on March 17th, and Sutherland was also in attendance. Maxwell was crowned the C2-6 District Team Champion.
Sutherland qualified a pair of duets for the state contest, with Gracie Pearson and Mahala Vasquez placing second and Bryer Brown and Macadee Lantis placing third.
Maxwell qualified Emmeline Lucas, who placed first, and Christina Smith, who placed third, for state in entertainment.
Christina Smith of Maxwell placed first in extemporaneous, and Billie DeGarmo of Maxwell placed third, qualifying them both for state.
Hannah Evans and Lauren Mead, both of Maxwell, qualified for state, placing 2nd and 3rd. Eliana Dyer of Sutherland just missed state, placing 4th.
In OID, Maxwell qualified two groups for state. 1st place was Christina Smith, Emmeline Lucas, Kaitlyn Pedersen, Makenzie Margritz, and Quinn Moreno; 2nd place was Genevieve Lucas, Hannah Evans, and Kurri Gosnell. Sutherland's OID group placed 5th: Bryden Redden, Keigan Kershner, Leah Harper, and Lyla Mann.
In humorous prose, Emmeline Lucas of Maxwell placed 2nd to qualify for state. Genevieve Lucas of Maxwell placed 5th, and Mahala Vasquez of Sutherland placed 6th.
Makenzie Margritz of Maxwell placed 1st in poetry to qualify for state.
In serious prose, Sutherland's Mahala Vasquez placed second, and Jada Nelson on Maxwell placed third to qualify for state. Lauren Mead of Maxwell just missed out, placing fourth.
Gracie Pearson of Sutherland placed second in persuasive to qualify for state, and Kaitlyn Pederson of Maxwell placed fifth.
In program oral interpretation, Jade Nelson of Mawell placed 1st and Genevieve Lucas of Maxwell placed 2nd.
Class D1
D1-5
Bertrand was in the D1-5 district hosted by GICC on March 18th.
Addison Andersen and Isaac Hernandez placed 2nd in duet acting to qualify for state.
Garrett Scholz placed 3rd in extemporaneous qualifying for state.
Addison Anderson, Isaac Hernandez, and Ryker Schroeder qualified for state in OID, placing 3rd. Bertrand's other OID group, Adrian Sand, Autumn McNierey, Bailey Kipp, and Caleb Patterson, placed 6th.
Ryker Schroeder placed 2nd in humorous prose, qualifying for state.
In poetry, Aspyn Chapin placed 5th and Adrian Sand placed 5th in serious.
D1-6
Cambridge hosted the D1-6 district on March 22nd. Dundy County, Hitchcock County, Maywood, Paxton, and Southwest were also in attendance. Paxton was named the D1-6 District Team Runner-up.
Paxton's John Fricke, Miah Fox, Southwest's Amelia Minary, and Jadyn Walz qualified for state in duet. Abigail Fote and Victoria Fox of Paxton placed 5th, and Abigail Sedlacek and Caitlyn Adams of Southwest placed 6th.
In entertainment, Miles Rogge of Paxton placed 1st, and Jensyn Weiss of Cambridge placed 3rd, both qualifying for state. Leslie Gomez of Dundy County Stratton placed 6th, and David Peaslee of Hitchcock County was a finalist.
In extemporaneous, Klayton Rinne of Dundy County Stratton and Rileigh Reeves of Paxton qualified for state as they placed 1st and 3rd. Sarah Brott of Paxton placed 5th, and Colton Gross and Ben Harris, both of Cambridge, were finalists.
In informative, Rileigh Reeves of Paxton placed 3rd to qualify for state. Klayton Rinne of Dundy County Stratton placed 4th, Amelia Minary of Southwest placed 5th, and Alianah Del Carlo of Maywood placed 6th.
Paxton's OID of Abigail Fote, Kepler Spurgin, Madilynn Mullen, Miah Fox, and Victoria Fox qualified for state, placing 2nd. Southwest's group of Allison VanPelt, Amelia Minary, Caitlyn Adams, Jadyn Walz, and Payton Truksa placed 4th, and Cambridge's group of Briar Gunderson, Gavin Gunderson, Jaysek Weiss, Jensyn Weiss, and Russell Norton placed 5th.
In humorous, John Fricke of Paxton placed 2nd, and Madilynn Mullen of Paxton placed 3rd, both qualifying for state. Maysen Merritt of Maywood placed 4th, Leslie Gomez of Dundy County Stratton placed 5t,h and Klayton Rinne of Dundy County Stratton placed 6th.
Graci Peterka of Maywood placed 1st, and Emma Baldeh of Dundy County Stratton placed 2nd, qualifying for state in poetry. Madilynn Mullen of Paxton and Nena Escobar of Southwest placed 5th and 6th.
Kepler Spurgin of Paxton placed 3rd in serious prose and qualified for state. Emma Peterka of Maywood placed 6th, and Lailah Swanson of Hitchcock County was a finalist.
Abigail Sedlacek of Southwest placed 2nd to qualify for state in persuasive. Rileigh Reeves of Paxton placed 4th, Eden Coppersmith of Paxton placed 5th, EJ Velasco of Cambridge placed 6th, Rachel Harris of Cambridge was a finalist, and Calista Carney of Hitchcock County.
In program oral interpretation, Emma Baldeh of Dundy County Stratton placed 1st, and Graci Peterka of Maywood placed 2nd, qualifying for state. Miah Fox of Paxton placed 4th, and Kepler Spurgin of Paxton placed 5th.
Class D2
D2-5
Wallace hosted the D2-5 District on March 18th. Elwood, Eustis-Farnam, Hayes Center, and Medicine Valley were in attendance.
Adrianna Seberger and Christdolyn Hagan of Elwood placed 6th in duet acting.
In entertainment, Kara Brockman of Elwood placed first, and Tyler Stewart of Hayes Center placed third, qualifying them for state.
Kara Brockman of Elwood placed 1st in extemporaneous and Kendall McClintock of Wallace placed 3rd to both qualify for state.
In informative, Lee-Ann Joson of Medicine Valley placed 3rd and qualified for state. Kassandra Salisbury of Elwood placed 5th, and Kahner Kotschwar of Medicine Valley placed 6th.
In OID, Wallace's group of Bradley Hason, Colt Franklin, Mallory McConnell, Max Hanson, and Ryleigh Hanson placed 1st and qualified for state.
In humorous prose, Ryleigh Hanson placed 3rd and qualified for state. Natalie Mortensen of Medicine Valley placed 5th.
In poetry, Briseyda Vazquez of Wallace placed 5th, and Sophia Shutts of Medicine Valley placed 6th.
In serious prose, Kendall McClintock of Wallace placed 2nd and qualified for state. Celeste Zuniga of Medicine Valley placed 4th, and Christian Maurer of Eustis-Farnam placed 6th.
Kara Brockman of Elwood placed 1st in persuasive, and Cauy Robinson of Wallace placed 3rd to qualify for state.
In program oral interpretation, Mallory McConnell placed 2nd to qualify for state. Kassandra Salsibury of Elwood placed 4th.
Unified Speech
The NSAA partners with the Special Olympics of Nebraska to offer Unified sports and activities. Paxton will have three events that will be performed at the state contest.
In the Exhibition portion, Kade Bartow of Paxton will present an informative speech on Duck Dynasty, and Eden Coppersmith will present a persuasive speech on Finances for the Disabled on Friday, March 28th at 3:30 P.M. CT at the Kearney High School Auditorium. In duet acting, Eden Coppersmith and Emma Lake of Paxton will perform at 3:30 P.M. CT in room LLC at Kearney High School on the 28th.
