On Thursday, the EPS Speech Team competed in the D2-2 District Speech Contest at Humphrey. Nine of the team’s eleven events competed in finals, and four events qualified for the State Speech Championships in Kearney. As a team, they brought home the District Runner-up plaque. Individual results are as follows:
The OID of Kenny Bush, Taya Voborny, Zoey Bergman, Lydia Behnk, and Hunter Reestman—District Champions and state qualifiers.
The Duet of Zoey Bergman and Taya Voborny—District Champions and state qualifiers.
Lydia Behnk—Entertainment Speaking-District Champion and state qualifier.
The Duet of Kenny Bush and Hunter Reestman—District Runners-up and state qualifier.
Placing fourth and narrowly missing a trip to state were Jaime Hoefer-Serious Prose, Kira Widger-Poetry, and Brea Carr-Extemporaneous Speaking.
The OID of Jaime Hoefer, Kira Widger, Ashton Evans and Adam Dreger placed fifth.
Mateo Kirstine also placed fifth in Extemporaneous Speaking.
Lexi Swanson received an Excellent Rating in Poetry and Carter Schindler received an Excellent Rating in Humorous Prose.
EPS coaches Jessie Reestman and Stacy Shumake-Henn credited the whole team for the day’s success.
“Whenever we bring home some hardware, it is a total team effort. It takes every performance throughout the day to accumulate those points. We couldn’t do it without each and every member.”
They are also excited about the upcoming trip to Kearney.
“We are thrilled for these kids to go and showcase their talents at the state level. Our team has put in a lot of time and effort this season, so it’s nice to see them be rewarded for that. It’s also pretty impressive that all five kids are double entered at state this year.”
Those competing at state include four-time state speech qualifiers Kenny Bush and Zoey Bergman.
“That’s quite an accomplishment, as there are no guarantees from year to year.”
They also had words of praise for those with close calls on the day. “Of course, we had some heartbreaks. That is one of the downsides of speech. We had some fabulous performances, but all it takes is one opinion to make difference. We couldn’t have asked any more of these kids. They have had a tremendous impact on our program and have been very committed to making themselves and others better.” The State Speech Championships begin on Thursday of this week. Class D2 will compete on Friday.
