by Jared Hines
Contributing Sports Writer
Matthew Ternus closed his eyes and bowed his head following his creative expression speech. He sat there still, lost in his thoughts for a few seconds, before opening his eyes and intently watching the rest of the speeches in the current round.
The Rogers Speech Team competed at the Mississippi 8 conference meet at Chisago Lakes High School on Tuesday evening, one of the last competitions before sections, where students will compete for a chance to go to state.
While speech is considered a winter sport, many students work on their speeches year-round, making adjustments to them as the year progresses. While memorizing your speech isn’t a requirement at competitions throughout the year, it is one of the main requirements to place higher at conference and section meets.
“Students work hard all year to perfect their speeches,” head coach Kristi Anderson said. “Some of our students will get a head start and begin in the summer.”
(From left) Courtney Lynch, Alicia Utecht and Emma Navratil show off their ribbons in Informative Speech.
While students are working year-round, Anderson isn’t allowed to help them until the season starts and she is completed with coaching soccer. From there, Anderson spends up to three hours each day after school to make sure all 29 students have a chance to work with her on their specific speech.
Anderson, a speech participant of one year when she was in high school, is in her third year coaching the speech team in the team’s fourth year overall. When the program started in 2012, there were just four participants.
“It is great to see the program grow,” Emma Olson said, as she looked out over the concourse where her teammates were enjoying their dinner between rounds. “We have a young team, which is great for the future of the program,”
Olson, one of the original members, performs in the Extemporaneous Reading category, just one of the 14 possible categories that speech team members can compete in. The team’s 29 members perform in nine of the possible 14, with several groups having three to five Rogers students in each one.
Tuesday’s award ceremony brought excitement to many Rogers students, including 12 members of the team that placed in the top six. The top two students from each category earn all conference, third and fourth place earn all conference honorable mention and fifth and sixth place receive ribbons.
The place winners for Rogers include:
Alicia Utecht- 1st place Informative Speaking
Courtney Lynch- 2nd place Informative Speaking
Alexis Griffin- 2nd place Poetry Reading
Morgan Synder- 2nd place Storytelling
Matthew Ternus- 2nd place Creative Expression
Emma Olson- 3rd place Extemporaneous Reading
Kaitlyn Benz- 3rd place Great Speeches
Veronica Porter- 5th place Poetry Reading
Porschia Olson- 5th place Great Speeches
Savannah Klein- 6th place Original Oratory
Emma Navratil- 6th place Informative Speaking
Claire Swan- 6th place Extemporaneous Reading
The Rogers speech team now has 29 participants, up from just four members four years ago.
Ternus and Synder both scored a 1-100 in the third round of their respective categories, symbolizing a flawless speech, and speech’s top possible score.
“I am so thankful for the Rogers speech team for giving me so many wonderful opportunities and life lessons,” Courtney Lynch tweeted after the meet.
Lynch, one of the three state qualifiers from a year ago, impressed judges with her informative speech about Vetigel, a gel that stops bleeding in 10 seconds. Lynch used her love of Grey’s Anatomy, along with video props and many hours of research and practice, to speak flawlessly about the gel that is hoping to change the medical field (and save her favorite characters).
As a team, Rogers placed third, just two speaker points behind Saint Michael-Albertville. The Royals also were awarded a Gold in academics, an award given out to teams with an average GPA of 3.7 or higher.
Rogers speech team will venture to Roseville High School this weekend before the 5AA section tournament on April 8. Any participant with high enough scores will advance to the state tournament on April 15-16 at Lakeville North High School.