The CHS Speech team presented a very strong showing at the Districts tournament on Saturday, finishing in second place. Competitors that placed in the top 3 in their individual events earned a spot at the Nationals Tournament in June. There were 18 entries in the Districts final rounds, and 11 qualifiers.

In Dramatic Interpretation, Rebecca Mueller got 6th, Miranda Miller got 5th, and Lily Roberts took 1st place, qualifying her for Nationals.

In Duo Interpretation, the team of Jackson Dudek and Josh Hoover got 4th, and Miranda Miller and Natalie Nunez got 2nd, qualifying them for Nationals.

In Humorous Interpretation, Dylan Leavitt got 4th and Heidi Boltze got 3rd place, qualifying her for nationals.

In Informative Speaking, Jackson Dudek got 6th, Rebecca Mueller got 3rd, and Mattea Sklut got 3rd, qualifying those two for the tournament.

In International Extemporaneous, Gigi Hanner got 5th place, and Hamza Sahli got 4th.

In Original Oratory, Gigi Hanner got 4th place, and Anna Sanders qualified for nationals with her 3rd place finish.

In Programmed Oral Interpretation, Dylan Leavitt got 3rd, Lily Robert took 1st place for the second time, and Robert Mueller also qualified.

In United States Extemporaneous, Mattea Sklut got 3rd place, and Mark Jewison got 2nd, qualifying them both.

Junior Natalie Nuñez is proud of her performance, saying: “It feels really good knowing that our hard work paid off in one of the most difficult years to compete,” She continues, comparing this year’s tournament to ones prior, “It’s been really hard to stay motivated when some of the biggest parts we all loved of speech being taken away, but it was well worth the struggle. It always is in speech,”

Senior Lily Roberts is also very excited about her placing, commenting that: “It feels really gratifying. Like even through the struggles of online speech, it was worth it.” Likewise, senior Anna Sanders remarked: “It’s been really hard to cope with the fact that everything I love about competing has been taken away, and disheartening to have to deliver my message through a computer screen. I just had to hope things would work in my favor despite all of the unknowns of this season and how hard it has been to compete like this. Luckily they did, and I feel an even bigger sense of accomplishment than I have in previous years because of how much work it took to adjust to everything.”

The speech team takes on state elimination rounds this Saturday virtually, and the Sandcript wishes them good luck!