Twelve students from Benilde-St. Margaret’s recently competed for top titles in the Class AA State Speech Tournament.

The team walked away with one fifth place, one sixth place, and two eighth place medals.

With twelve tournaments and one showcase under their belts, the team was ready to compete in the 6AA section.

Although the BSM Speech Team only sent twelve participants to the State Tournament this year, it was a big accomplishment due to the difficulty of the section competition.

“It was a smaller group compared to last year because the section was a lot harder,” said assistant head coach Kari Koshiol. Two years ago, BSM had the highest number of qualifiers for the tournament by any school with 27 students participating.

On Saturday, April 19, these twelve students represented BSM in the 2008 Class AA State Speech Tournament. Senior captain Sylvie Brew and junior Sarah Crawford participated in the creative expression category. Brew walked away with a fifth place medal and not only achieved her personal best, but also took home the team’s best place in the tournament. “The competition was amazing so it was good to get fifth,” said Brew, “It was nice to represent the team.”

Senior Nora Last competed in the discussion category; freshman Nate Muckley and sophomore Molly Adams and juniors Kaia Preus and Amy Stockhaus took part in the duo interpretation category; freshman Emily Beh and senior Rosie Callahan participated in extemporaneous reading; junior Caroline Hendrickson was in informative speaking, and junior Elin Lantz performed storytelling.

Each contestant is scored in three different rounds, and the contestants with the lowest cumulative score then move onto the final round.

Besides Brew, three other BSM students took home medals, Lantz and Beh both received eighth place awards, and Callahan received sixth.

“State is always the hardest tournament of the year and most intimidating,” said Koshiol, “It’s big just to make it to final round.”

Courtney Johnson, staff writer