After a big weekend at the district individual speech contest, students at Mid-Prairie and Highland High Schools are gearing up for the state competition. Mid-Prairie sent 19 of their 22 events from districts through to the state level including Diego Ayala in Spontaneous Speaking, Haydon Bailey in Acting and Musical Theatre, Alex Burnham in Storytelling, Jacob Carillo in Acting and Improvisation, Liv Caskey in Musical Theatre and After Dinner Speaking, Avery Frede in Improvisation, Isadora Goode in Interpretive Poetry, Jack Greiner in Improvisation, Logan McClellen in Storytelling, Terra Richardson in Acting and After Dinner Speaking, Emily Righter in Radio News Broadcast and Public Address, Daniel Rodgers in Interpretive Poetry and Avery Slabaugh in Interpretive Prose and Musical Theatre.

The Highland team sent a school-record seven events to state from the district contest, including Brendan Schnoebelen in Radio News, Allyana Pokomy in Reviewing and Expository Address, Emma Smith in Poetry Reading and Expository Address, Zoey Robidoux in Musical Theatre and Emma Nicola in Musical Theatre.

The state contest is this Saturday at Grinnell High School. Top performances at Grinnell will be nominated to perform at the IHSSA All-State Individual Events Festival, March 28th on the campus of the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls.