Article by Alannah Goode
Norfolk High School (NHS) just hosted its fourth annual speech tournament, the Panther Classic, on Saturday, March 5. A grand total of 35 schools competed at the meet, and all classes were represented. Small western schools like Keya Paha to metro schools like Millard South, Lincoln Southeast, and Omaha Brownell, all came to showcase their talent. There were over 500 students that competed at the tournament, and the largest event was Serious Prose, which had 86 competitors. Since NHS hosted the event, the speech team did not have many kids compete because most were needed to help organize and run everything. Coach Peggy Belt adds more: "We are also an official 'bid' tournament for the NIETOC - the National Individual Events Tournament of Champions tournament that is held in Denver the second weekend in May. Most participants qualify for that national meet by placing at two NIETOC sanctioned 'bid' tournaments," explains Belt.
The competitors for the NHS speech team were Nick Adams, Adam Kester, Austin Brady, Lloyd Manansala, Brooke Luhr, Hannah Mills, Tanya Nava, and Kaytlin Epperly. When asked what the participants and speech coaches gain from taking part in the Panther Classic, Belt was ready to answer: "This late season tournament serves as great preparation for upcoming district and state competitions. It's also a great opportunity for kids from small schools to showcase their talents and discover that they can compete with kids from much larger programs and still do exceptionally well. In fact, out of the 35 schools in attendance, 29 teams had kids in finals," and NHS was one of them.
Freshman Hannah Mills competed in Informative Speaking, moved onto Champs finals, and she finished second overall. This was an extremely impressive accomplishment for a freshman. Nava, a junior, came in at fourth place in that same event in Honors Finals. Nava achieved tenth place overall. Epperly, a senior, was a double medalist at the tournament, earning third place in Champs finals of Program Oral Interpretation. Epperly then finished second in Honors Finals, placing eighth overall.
Even though they did not win the meet - Talbot did - the Norfolk Speech team has kept their heads up high. Belt leaves with this one last note: "I simply love hosting events like this," Belt says. "It's my goal to not only organize a highly competitive event, but to also foster a fun and welcoming atmosphere."
On Tuesday, March 15, the Panther Speech Team achieved the A-4 District Runner-Up trophy. Twelve of the competitors from the 18 events advanced to finals, with nine of those qualifying for the State Tournament. The state qualifiers include Brent Uhing/Skyler Gubbels, and Daniel Vinson/Ethan Carlson for Duet Acting, Vinson and Treslyn Hubbard for Serious Prose, Hubbard for Poetry, Nava and Mills for Informative Speaking, Nava for Persuasive, and Maddie Moen for Entertainment. Nava, Hubbard, and Vinson were double-qualifiers.
For more great articles from the March 2016 Panther Newspaper, click here!
