After a few short weeks of the speech invitational season, Cannon Falls speakers are off to a roaring start. So far, they have competed at Cannon Falls on February 3, Rochester John Marshall on February 10, Farmington on February 17, and Red Wing on February 24.
The earliest part of the speech invitational season is mainly for speakers to gain familiarity with their pieces and get into the groove of things. At this point, when each speaker goes up to speak, they are likely on script. But in the next part of the season, they aim to finalize the length of their script and work toward memorization. By the end of the season, every speaker (with the exceptions of the Extemporaneous Reading and Speaking, Discussion, and Storytelling categories) will have their speeches entirely memorized and will work on improving their performance aspects, such as physical movement and tone. Senior Bowen Maki in Duo explained his strategies for success: “I’m experimenting with new line deliveries to see if they work better, slowing down and enunciating for better audience understanding, and thinking of creative new blocking and actions for better rankings.”
At this part of the season, with a few invitationals under their belt, the newer speakers are starting to learn the ropes. The first three tournaments, in an effort to help them, offered a “novice” division of awards, recognizing the hard work of less experienced students. Between Cannon Falls, Rochester John Marshall, and Farmington, 32 novice awards were earned by Cannon Falls speakers. Within those 32 awards, there were five champions: Hades Kammerude in Creative Expression at Rochester John Marshall, Anya Nygaard in Extemporaneous Reading at Rochester John Marshall and Farmington, Tristan Pedersen in Humorous at Farmington, Jessica Wu in Informative Speaking at Rochester John Marshall, and Tucker Nobach in Storytelling at Rochester John Marshall and Farmington.
Despite the division, novices can become varsity if they break into the top six speakers of their respective categories. This special event happened at Rochester John Marshall for Lince Otterness of Great Speeches and at Farmington for Emily Churchill of Prose and Henry Nygaard of Storytelling. Starting off the season as novices, they will now compete as varsity for the rest of the season.
Not only is the Cannon Falls Speech team experiencing novice success, but the varsity speakers are also doing phenomenally for the beginning of the season. Sara Auger, a senior in Storytelling, said, “I think we’ve had a successful season. I think it’s going to go well for the rest of the year.” In the first four tournaments, Cannon Falls speakers have earned a combined total of 50 varsity awards, including three event champions: Grace Churchill in Poetry at Cannon Falls, Grace Parks in Informative Speaking at Farmington, and Grace Miller in Extemporaneous Reading at Red Wing.
In addition to individual success, the Cannon Falls team as a whole has earned team awards at each tournament. Collectively, they were a second-place team at Farmington, third-place team at Cannon Falls, fourth-place team at Rochester John Marshall, and second-place team at Red Wing.
With only four more invitational tournaments before the postseason of subsections, sections, and state, the speakers are looking forward to finetuning their performances so they can give the best speeches possible.
