B-D’s Pavelka earns D2 state speech title

TC’s Heitmann takes C2 runner-up.

Local high schools sent 23 speech students to the 2012 state speech contest last week. The four high schools, competing in three classes including C-2, D-1 and D-2 performed Friday, March 23, at the University of Nebraska-Kearney campus.

Tara Pavelka, a junior from Bruning-Davenport, collected a state championship in persuasive speaking boosting her team to an overall fourth place finish in Class D2 at the state competition. Pavelka’s win was the only championship among the local competitors. She also finished fifth in the informative speaking division.

Both Bruning-Davenport and Shickley had eight students perform at the state level while Deshler sent five and Thayer Central sent two.

For Bruning-Davenport, senior Jacob McGinley and junior Nolan Schroeder finished in third place in the duet acting division, then joined juniors Anthony Ferebee and Shane Heyen and freshman Jayden Otto on the OID team to take fourth place.

Individually, senior Ashley Hinrichs and sophomore Emily Folkerts finished fifth and sixth respectively in the extemporaneous division.

For Thayer Central, junior Russell Heitmann led the way with a second place win in persuasive speaking and a third place win in oral interpretation of poetry. Heitmann, making a return appearance at the state competition, provided 34 sweepstake points for Thayer Central to finish in eighth place in the C2 competition.

Sophomore Rachael Fangmeier also competed finishing ninth in the informative speaking division.

For Deshler, competing in Class D1, junior Craig Meier led the way finishing third in humorous interpretation of prose literature. Senior Krista Schardt earned a seventh place finish in informative speaking while freshman Katelyn Pohlmann finished 15th in entertainment speaking and seniors Amanda Petersen and Shannon Waite finished 17th in duet acting.

For Shickley, competing in Class D2, senior Anna Lichti led the way with a third place finish in entertainment speaking while senior Marissa Hochstetler finished fourth in informative speaking. The two seniors combined with junior Hannah Coy to finish fifth in OID.

The Shickley squad also had a second OID team competing at the state level including freshmen Nathan Hendrickson, Samantha Plock, Logan Rosenquist, Megan Swartzendruber and Kristin Troyer. The team finished 16th.