Speech team garners second

FAIRMONT — The Fairmont High School speech team recently finished second in the Scarlet Invitational tournament at Mankato West High School.

St. Peter won the event.

Fairmont had 24 competitors in novice and varsity finals. Fairmont took first in five varsity events and one novice event.

Individual varsity results are as follows: discussion, Bergen Senf was the champion and Solveig Senf finished in sixth place; drama, Kara Fischer earned fourth place; duo, Isabell Geiger and Tabitha Thatcher were champions; extemp reading, Jacalyn Reischl earned sixth place; extemp speaking, Andrew Haefner finished in third place; great speeches, Ameya Komaragiri was the champion and Emily Kerekes took second place; informative, Emily Kerekes was second and Lilly Laven was fifth; original oratory, Ameya Komaragiri took third and Kaycie Brookens sixth; poetry, Apoorva Komaragiri was second, Tabitha Willner fifth and Faith Heille sixth; prose, Apoorva Komaragiri was the champion while Kaycie Brookens finished in third; storytelling, Annika Wheeler was the champion and Grace Simpson was fifth.

Novice results were: discussion, Season Kotewa earned fourth place; humorous, Emily Wheeler took fifth place; informative, Sydney Blomster was the champion; prose: Samantha Thatcher earned second place.

Seventh-grader Grace Simpson won this week’s Golden Cardinal from the speech team captains.

Passengers flown to Omaha

DES MOINES (AP) — Officials at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha said Monday they have received 13 people from a cruise ship in Japan who were part of a larger group of American citizens brought back to the U.S.

Chris Kratochvil, an executive director of the Global Center for Health Security at the medical center, said 12 of the people are in quarantine. They currently have no symptoms of the coronavirus.

One man is in a biocontainment unit to receive a higher level of care because he had a cough and other symptoms in addition to another chronic illness that places him at higher risk for complications.

All the travelers will remain at the university hospital for at least 14 days.

The new patients came as 57 U.S. evacuees continued to be quarantined at a Nebraska National Guard training base just southwest of Omaha.

In the latest case, the hospital received a call from federal officials at 2 a.m. Monday indicating they would be receiving patients, many of whom had initially tested positive for the coronavirus.