Moorhead lands one-two punch, preps for NSDA Qualifier

Post date: Mar 8, 2016 1:15:30 AM

Twenty eight Spud speakers will take some extra momentum into this weekend's NSDA National Qualifier tournament after the split squad took top honors at Walker and came in a close second place at Lakeville North.

A smaller, veteran squad advanced 27 speakers to the semifinal round in Lakeville; 14 competed in the finals. Sophomore Izzy Larson led the Spuds with three final round appearances (2nd in Duo with Devon Solwold, 2nd in poetry and 3rd in POI). Larson also finished second in overall individual sweepstakes points.

Moorhead took home seven silver medals on the day. Maryn Cella (Great Speeches) was the only Spuds speaker to earn a first place finish.

At the Chuck Beckman memorial tournament in Walker, the Spuds advanced speakers into final rounds in 12 of the 13 categories offered, en route to a first place team finish. Novice speaker Margaret Dickey won the next-in final round in both informative and poetry. Sophie Newcomb earned the only top spot with her victory in oratory.

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Moorhead now sets its sights on the NSDA National Tournament. The Minnesota Northern Lights district will send 20 entries in speech to Salt Lake City, and those spots will be determined during the two day qualifying tournament held this Friday and Saturday at St. Cloud Tech H.S. The list of Moorhead representatives is below. Be sure to follow our Twitter feed for updates from the tournament all weekend long.

Moorhead speakers at the 2016 NSDA National Qualifier Tournament (with number of national qualifiers):

Dramatic Interpretation (4):

Val Chavez

Lexi Francis

Delana Haglund

Noel Kangas

Humorous Interpretation (3):

Alex Church

Ariana Grollman

Ella Halgrimson

Skyler Klostriech

Dramatic Duo (3):

Abby & Sean Dahlberg

Devon Solwold & Izzy Larson

Sophia Klindt & Kaden Moszer

Levi & Luke Seidel

U.S. Extemporaneous Speaking (2):

Quinn Kupec

Bridget McManamon

Keith Larson

International Extemporaneous Speaking (2):

Simon Beach

Hannah Hendrickson

Original Oratory (2):

*Jessica Anderson (Will not compete. Auto-Qualified)

McKensie Bedore

Camryn Hodny

Jack Mullally

Sophie Newcomb

Informative Speaking (2):

Lance Morlock

Sarah Schulz

Program Oral Interpretation (2):

Izzy Larson

Annie Nickell