Saturday was full of top performances and high ratings for the Mid-Prairie and Highland speech teams at the Iowa High School Speech Association District contest. The Golden Hawks sent 22 events to the competition at Tri-County High School and saw 19 of them move on to state. Those who advance and received a Division I rating include Diego Ayala in Spontaneous Speaking, Haydon Bailey in Acting and Musical Theatre, Alex Burnham in Storytelling, Jacob Carrillo 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 Slaubaugh in Interpretive Prose and Musical Theatre.
The Highland speech team competed at the district event at North Scott High School in Eldridge. The Huskies qualified a school record seven events for state, receiving Division I ratings, 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 competition will be held March 12th at Grinnell High School. Performers there will have a chance to be nominated to perform at the IHSSA All-State Individual Events Festival Monday, March 28th on the campus of the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls.