Spuds strike gold, win inaugural state speech title
April 19, 2016
For the first time in Minnesota State High School League speech history, the state tournament awarded more than individual medals by honoring the top three schools in the state. Moorhead, Eagan and Apple Valley — three teams consistently at the top of the leaderboard all season —finished within two points of each other.
A historic day ended with both Moorhead High and Eagan speech teams hoisting the 2016 State AA championship trophy, deadlocked in an unbreakable tie just two points ahead of Apple Valley. All three schools entered the tournament with 19 entries.
The Spuds racked up 15 medals, including state championship honors in duo for Devon Solwold and Izzy Larson for their performance of “Riding in Cars with Boys.” It is the second state medal earned by both speakers and the second duo championship for Moorhead in the last three years. Matt Wisenden and Jordan Hartjen’s “Never Swim Alone” won in 2014. Two months later, that duo went on to earn Moorhead High’s first and only speech national championship.
The Spuds were represented in ten of the 13 final rounds, highlighted by gold in duo and second place finishes in Great Speeches and Prose. Along with Larson and Solwold, seven speakers earned their second state medals, including Jessica Anderson (2nd in Prose), Delana Haglund (3rd in Prose), McKensie Bedore (3rd in Storytelling), Levi Seidel (4th in Drama), and Sean Dahlberg (6th in Duo).
Making their first trip to a state final round included Maryn Cella (2nd in Great Speeches), Skyler Klostriech (4th in Humor), Sarah Schulz (4th in Inform), Mason Pickar (5th in Poetry), Hannah Hendrickson (6th in Discussion), Camryn Hodny (6th in Oratory); Abby Dahlberg (6th in Duo), Alyssa Haagenson (7th in Storytelling), Jack Mullally (8th in Oratory) and Alex Church (8th in Humor).
A full list of Moorhead medalists can be found
here.
Other notes:
- The 15 state medals brings Moorhead’s overall total to 169, closing in on Forest Lake’s 184 for third-most in state history.
- The Spuds have earned at least two state medals at each of the last 22 MSHSL state speech tournaments. The last time Moorhead missed out on final rounds was in 1994.
- This is the fourth consecutive year and fifth time in six years that Moorhead has produced a state champion.
- Larson and Solwold become the fifth Spuds duo team to earn gold at the state tournament.
- The humor medals earned by Klostriech and Church bring the team total to 22 all-time, the most from any category.
- Maryn Cella’s second-place medal is the best finish in Great Speeches by a Moorhead speaker.
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