Scanning down the hallway, an observer can see people in their natural habitat. Talking to walls, running in suits, and most horrifyingly, adjusting info boards. This was a speech tournament.
While the speech season began in December, the Cannon Falls Team has been attending invitational tournaments every Saturday from February to March. The team has competed at the Kasson Komet, John Marshall, Farmington, Red Wing, St. Anthony Village, and South Saint Paul tournaments. The team has achieved second place in the small school division at a majority of tournaments with first place at South Saint Paul. When asked about the season as a whole, head coach Holly Winget states, “As always the team is growing and performing well; experienced speechies are helping the younger people to develop their talents and that shows up in the awards.”
Most recently, the team competed at the all-conference tournament on Monday, March 10th. The Cannon Falls Team cleaned house with 7 people earning the conference champion title. These people include: Zane Beck for Discussion, Charles Fick for Extemp. Speaking, Lauren Capelle for Extemp. Reading, Lince Otterness for Great Speeches, Emily Churchill for Prose, Grace Churchill for Poetry, and last but not least, Tucker Nobach for Storytelling. As a result, the team earned first place overall with a total of 89 points.
The invitational season is at its end with the last tournament being just on Saturday, March 15th at Northfield. When asked about her thoughts before the tournament, senior captain Aubry Conway expressed, “I think the team will do good Saturday, we have a lot of good people and have been doing fairly well.” And the team did just that, earning second place in the medium school division at the Northfield Raider Invitational. Now, the team will officially be moving towards prepping for the Subsection and Section tournament. The team has made strides up to this point, and it looks optimistic that they will continue their streak in the months ahead. They can do what they’re good at most: talk to walls.
