Waconia High School's new competitive speech team competed in its first tournament on Jan. 20 at Orono High School. The team had one team member break through preliminaries into the varsity merit division finals, and an additional eight students break into the novice division finals.
Senior Landon Shaw advanced to the merit round finals in the Discussion event, where he took first place. The novice division final results were as follows:
Junior Shane Zimmerman, 3rd place, Creative Expression
Senior Hannah McCarthy, 3rd Place, Extemporaneous Speaking
Junior Gianna Klaphake, 3rd Place, Prose Reading
Junior Leo Thayer, 5th Place, Extemporaneous Speaking
Freshman Isabella Benson, 5th place, Creative Expression
Senior Simon Peitersen, 5th place, Discussion
Senior Stella Atkinson, 6th place, Original Oratory
Senior Mariah Port, 7th place, Discussion
