Seward High Captures District Speech Title
Sorsen and Svoboda Place First at District Speech-Five Entries to State Contest
By Clark Kolterman
March 03, 2010
The Seward High Speech team captured the 2010 NSAA B-3 District Speech Title on Saturday in Schuyler at their all day speech tournament. The contest qualifies students to attend the NSAA State Speech Tournament at Kearney on March 18th! State qualifiers include Andrew Sorsen – First Place in Extemporaneous Speaking on US issues with Turkey and China and Third Place in Persuasive Speaking about the value of a strong third party in the election system, Dayna Svoboda –First Place in Serious Prose Literature with the presentation “My Mother’s Touch”, Stephanie Rippstein – Second Place in Persuasive Speaking about the value of art education in our schools and Sarah Garbers – Third Place in Entertaining Speaking on being an “Asian Sensation.” The top three finalists/medalists qualify for the state meet. All received Superior ratings and certificates and medals.
Seward had a total of 13 entries break into finals and qualifies for the final round of competition. Each received a certificate and medal. Finalists and their results included Matt Johnson-Informative-Fourth place, Stephanie Rippstein-Informative-Fifth Place and Persuasion-Second place, Andrew Sorsen-Extemp-First Place and Persuasion-Third Place, Dayna Svoboda-Serious Prose Literature-First Place and OID Sixth Place, Katie Thrailkill-Poetry-Sixth Place, Michelle Ness-Entertaining- Fifth Place and OID Sixth Place, Sarah Garbers- Entertaining-Second place and OID-Fifth Place, Bobi Albrecht-OID Fifth Place and Duet-Sixth Place, Carson Shepherd-OID-Fifth Place, Ariana Miller-OID Fifth Place, Daniel Pfeiffer-OID-Sixth Place, Carl Heinicke-OID Sixth Place, Jillian Kongsjord-OID Sixth Place, Jessica Kadavy-OID Sixth Place and Katie Beckler-Serious Prose Literature-Sixth Place.
Other students from Seward High that did not place into the finals included Blake Vajgrt-Extemporaneous Speaking-Superior Rating, Ariana Miller-Poetry-Superior Rating, Daniel Pfeiffer-Humorous Prose-Excellent, Jillian Kongsjord-Humorous Prose Lit-Excellent, Lea Kayton and Alyssa Sleight-Duet-Excellent. While some students did not break into finals, the points they generated from their ratings contributed to the overall team count of 107 points!
Clark Kolterman is the SHS Speech coach. This is his 8th year as the coach and his first
NSAA District Title in Speech. The last time Seward High won the District speech title was in 1995, with the late Roger Harpham as the speech coach. Harpham retired in 2004.
Seward High won the tournament with 107 points defeating Waverly High -101 points, Bishop Neumann-84 points, Elkhorn Mt. Michael 79 points, Lincoln Lutheran 64 points, Schuyler-61 points, Ashland/Greenwood-59 points and Wahoo 26 points.
