The EPS Speech Team started the road to the post-season competing in the D2-2 District Contest held in Wayne on Monday.
The group brought home 16 medals and four events qualified for state.
Representing EPS in Kearney next weekend will be district Serious Prose Champion Zoey Buechter. Joining her will be Kyndal Busteed who placed third in Persuasive Speaking. Gemma Miller qualified placing third in Extemporaneous Speaking, and Braedon Hinkle secured his state berth by placing third in Humorous Prose
Missing state qualification by one place was the OID of Hinkle, John Zwingman, Sophia Burke, Kynlee Tillis and Sydney Niewohner. Niewohner also placed fourth in Poetry.
Burke placed fifth in Humorous Prose. Kyla Donaldson and Danny Smidt placed fifth in Duet, and Kierstyn Eisenhauer and Kayton Zwingman earned sixth place in Duet.
Busteed also placed sixth in Informative.
The OID of Zwingman, Eisenhauer, Donaldson, Smidt and Gentry Zwingman earned a Superior Rating.
Co-Coaches Jessie Reestman and Stacy Shumake-Henn had words of praise for their team.
“We have a young team experience wise this year, but many made up for that with their work ethic. We’re proud of all of them for their performances, as we saw a lot of improvement during the season. We’re thrilled for the kids we’ll be taking to state. We also had some hard working kids who missed qualifying by a place or two, but that is the nature of speech. We’re proud of them all and are excited to see our qualifiers continue to represent us in Kearney.”
Due to both FFA and State Speech being booked during the same week, this year’s D2 competition will be held Saturday, March 28 at Kearney High School. Good luck!
Local performance
The team will showcase their talents on this Thursday night (March 19) during their annual Speech Night.
It will be held in the EPS lunch room and is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m.
