Fairmont Speech wins 2A South Subsection

FAIRMONT — On Monday, March 27, twenty-nine participants of the Fairmont Speech Team competed at the MSHSL Subsection 2A South Tournament hosted by Fairmont High School. Fairmont competed in the south subsection with speech teams from River Valley, Martin County West, Alden Conger, Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial and Madelia.

In team sweepstakes, Fairmont Speech was the Subsection 2A South Team Champion with 248 points and River Valley was the Subsection 2A South Team Runner-up with 142 points.

Fairmont advanced their entire subsection team to the next level of competition, which is sections. This was achieved by each Fairmont competitor placing in the top 6 in their individual category.

Subsection 2A South individual champions were: Sophomores Grace Simpson and Oliver Thedens in duo interpretation; Sophomore Dominick Lund-May in extemporaneous speaking; Junior Isaiah Lockwood in great speeches; Senior Lauren Wheeler in creative expression; 7th grader Michelle Esquivel in storytelling; Senior Solveig Senf in discussion; and Junior Sydney Blomster in informative speaking.

Individual 2nd place finalists were: Sophomore Alayna Haefner in original oratory; Junior Andrew Haefner in extemporaneous speaking; 7th grader Avery Steuber in storytelling; Freshman Bel Lutterman in prose; Senior Christian Thom in humorous interpretation; Senior Lilly Laven in informative speaking; Senior Sasha Franzen in creative expression; Sophomore Season Kotewa in discussion; and Sophomore Zoey Tasseff in poetry.

Individual 3rd place finalists were: Junior Abi Peyman in original oratory; Freshman Bryanna Petschke in extemporaneous reading; Freshman Levi Loughmiller in extemporaneous speaking; Junior Selvin Forsythe in dramatic interpretation; and Freshman Thomas Hamlet in humorous interpretation.

Individual 4th place finalists were: 7th grader Adriana Leiding in discussion; Sophomore Alex Ensrud in original oratory; 8th grader Allie Streit in extemporaneous reading; and Sophomore Kelsey Hunter in informative speaking.

Individual 5th place finalists were: Freshman Dhanvi Patel in prose; and 8th grader Leon Yang in humorous interpretation.

Individual 6th place finalist was: 8th grader Norah Heille in prose.

The Section 2A Speech Tournament will be hosted by JWP on Friday, April 14. Section finalists earning top 3 in their individual category will advance to the Class A State Speech Tournament on April 29 at Eastview in Apple Valley. The Fairmont Speech Team is coached by Kathleen Walker, Erik Walker and Miles Duffey.