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Post date: Jan 31, 2016 5:25:47 PM
Using six first-place finishes--the most by Moorhead in more than two years--including five at the varsity level, the Spuds speech team took home first place in team sweepstakes at the 2016 Marshall Speech Spectacular. It's the first team victory of the season for Moorhead and it caps a successful January which saw final round finishes in Florida and Chanhassen.
Tournament highlights:
Jessica Anderson (prose) earned her second straight varsity victory; she took home first place at Chanhassen last weekend and continues to build up top honors after last June's 9th place finish in Original Oratory at the NSDA National Tournament.
In her first varsity discussion tournament, second-year speaker Valeria Chavez edged the competition en route to first place. The win is a first for Moorhead discussants at the Marshall tournament.
Team captain Devon Solwold added to the list of champions with his first-place performance of "Lucky Man," a dramatic interpretation of a memoir by Michael J. Fox. Solwold also advanced to the quarterfinal round of Duo with teammate and fellow first-place finisher Izzy Larson.
After picket-fencing prelims and the quarterfinal round (earning straight first-place decisions from all judges), Carolyn Solberg edged teammates Miah Lee and Quinn Kupec to win her first varsity tournament in Great Speeches. Lee took a close second while Kupec earned fifth place.
In a year of firsts for new NSDA category Program Oral Interpretation (POI), sophomore Izzy Larson became the first Spuds speaker to take first place in POI. Larson also broke into the quarterfinal round of Duo with teammate Devon Solwold.
Freshman storyteller Alyssa Haagenson made it back-to-back final round breaks to start her first season as a Spud speaker. After placing third at last weekend's tournament in Chanhassen, Haagenson took home top honors at Marshall, becoming the first novice to win a tournament this year. Varsity storytellers McKensie Bedore (2nd), Isaac Lenarz (5th) and Lauren Cartwright (6th) all advanced to the final round.
The schedule ramps up in February as the Spuds will travel to the Twin Cities for three tournaments and Boston for the Harvard Invitational before closing out the month at home with the annual Spuds Speech Invitational.
Full tournament information and results from Marshall can be found here. Upcoming tournament information and results from previous tournaments can be found on our "Tour and Results" page.
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