The 2019 and sixty-seventh annual NDHSAA Sponsored State Class A Speech Tournament was held at Jamestown High School on April 13. All participants qualified from one of two regional tournaments or at an invitational tournament held during the season.

Valley City captured first place with 122 points. Bismarck St. Mary’s took second with 73 points, Dickinson third with 64 points, Devils Lake took 4th with 58 points.

Elected by peers as the 2019 State A Speech Coach of the Year was Rhonda Burckhard of Bismarck St. Mary’s.

The following are the top place winners in each of the 14 categories.

Radio Broadcasting: 1st –Preeti Chemiti, West Fargo Sheyenne; 2nd –Rahman Mansib, West Fargo; 3rd –Eliza Johnson, Valley City; 4th –Cassidy Hughes, Dickinson; 5th –Kyler Smith, Dickinson; 6th – Madeline Erickson, Bismarck St. Mary’s; 7th –Faith Wahl, Bismarck High; 8th –Shinjini Chakraborty, West Fargo Sheyenne

Storytelling:  1st –Maddie Shafer, Bismarck Legacy; 2nd –Annika Hendrickson, Bismarck Century; 3rd –Olivia Data, Bismarck Century; 4th – Sophia Boe, Valley City; 5th – Ryan Phelps, Mandan; 6th – Ella Konieczka, Bismarck St. Mary’s; 7th –Emma Fleischacker, St Mary’s; 8th –Peyton Blair, Dickinson

Extemporaneous Programmed Reading:  1st –Catherine Meester, Valley City; 2nd –Kathryn Goettle, Bismarck St. Mary’s; 3rd –Hillary Moberg, Dickinson; 4th –Rose Grimestad, Shanley; 5th –Daisy Remmick, West Fargo; 6th –Izzabella Starkey, Minot; 7th –Autumn Grosz, Minot; 8th –Sarah Stinson, West Fargo.

Humorous Duo: 1st –Kyler Smith/Aiden Healy, Dickinson; 2nd –Dylan Quick/Sophia Boe, Valley City; 3rd –Cassidy Hughes/Rasia Mackey, Dickinson; 4th–Rachel Rusch/Allison Braun, Bismarck St. Mary’s; 5th – Autumn Thompson/Olivia Allery, Devils Lake; 6th-  Kathryn Goettle/Kendall Tibor, Bismarck St. Mary’s; 7th – Keezhan Hamasoor/William Dobrzelecki, Bismarck Century; 8th – Kathryn Hetletvedt/Caroline Kiser, Jamestown

Dramatic Interpretation:  1st –Lillian Kiefert, Valley City; 2nd –Madi Klabo, Valley City; 3rd –Bonnie Thompson, Dickinson; 4th –Bethany Shipley, Devils Lake; 5th –Haleigh Hanhart, Watford City; 6th –Elise Hogen, West Fargo; 7th –Rebecca Burckhard, Bismarck St. Mary’s; 8th –Jasmine King, Devils Lake

Extemporaneous Speaking:  1st –Brandon Prichard, Bismarck St. Mary’s; 2nd –Josh Ward, Shanley; 3rd –Juliet Geffre, Shanley; 4th –Forrest Weintraub, Fargo Davies; 5th –Dante Domine, Dickinson; 6th –Mitchell Krings, Shanley; 7th –Luke Young, West Fargo Sheyenne; 8th –Jessica Schmitz, Jamestown.

Poetry:  1st –Alberto Samura, Fargo South; 2nd –Lillian Kiefert, Valley City; 3rd –Olivia Slyter, Valley City; 4th – Devyn Halvorson, Devils Lake; 5th –Kali Bjornson, Devils Lake; 6th – Grace Widjaja, West Fargo Sheyenne; 7th –McKenna Reiser, West Fargo Sheyenne; 8th – Lily Douglass, Valley City.

Humorous Interpretation:  1st –Monisha Terry, Valley City; 2nd – Alivia Hoke, Jamestown; 3rd –Grace Widjaja, West Fargo Sheyenne; 4th –Olivia Allery, Devils Lake; 5th –Anika Arifin, Fargo North; 6th –Anna Janssen, Devils Lake; 7th –Rachel Rusch, Bismarck St. Mary’s; 8th –Benjamin Kruta, Valley City; 9th-Joseph Lauinger, Jamestown.

Serious Duo:  1st –Maggie Oberlander/Eliza Johnson, Valley City; 2nd – Rebecca Burckhard/John Goettle, Bismarck St. Mary’s; 3rd –Rylee Cihak/Brooke Ask, Valley City; 4th –Hunter Cady/Haiden Pederson, Bismarck Legacy; 5th–Emily Eback/Bethany Belleque, Devils Lake; 6th –Colby Rance/Breonna Rance, Devils Lake; 7th –Joseph Lauinger/Samara McDermid, Jamestown; 8th-Sarah Stinson/Theodora Dimmer, West Fargo

Inform:  1st –Hillary Moberg, Dickinson; 2nd –Megha Bharadwaj, Bismarck St. Mary’s; 3rd –Erica Flores, Fargo North; 4th –Catherine Meester, Valley City; 5th – MacKenzie Johnson, Jamestown; 6th –Furqan Mahdi, West Fargo; 7th –Irqa Hassan,  West Fargo; 8th –Madison Motschenbacher, Jamestown

Speech to Persuade:  1st –Preeti Chemiti, West Fargo Sheyenne; 2nd –Maggie Oberlander,Valley City; 3rd –Madison Wood, Devils Lake; 4th –Elizabeth Gazeley, Valley City; 5th –Brinklyn Johnson, Valley City; 6th – Kathryn Schnaible, Bismarck St. Mary’s; 7th – Sricharan Kotala, West Fargo Sheyenne; 8th – Madison Motschenbacher, Jamestown.

Serious Prose:  1st –Natalie Lopez, Dickinson; 2nd –Gabriella Shipp, Valley City; 3rd –Samara McDermid, Jamestown; 4th –Emily Eback, Devils Lake; 5th –Hunter Cady, Bismarck Legacy; 6th –McKenna Reiser, West Fargo Sheyenne; 7th –Kennedy Kouba, Dickinson; 8th –Kendall Tibor, Bismarck St. Mary’s; 9th- MaKaelyn Lorenz, Valley City.

Impromptu:  1st –Claire Bailly, Shanley; 2nd –Brandon Prichard, Bismarck St. Mary’s; 3rd –Megha Bharajwaj, Bismarck St. Mary’s; 4th –Rylie Fode, Bismarck Century; 5th –Joshua Ward, Shanley, 6th-Catherine Suckow, Jamestown; 7th-Evan Putt, Minot.

Speech to Entertain:  1st –Alivia Hoke, Jamestown; 2nd –Eve Jacobs, Devils Lake; 3rd –Christian Walth, Bismarck High; 4th –Kaden Wass, Devils Lake; 5th –Abril Arce, West Fargo Sheyenne; 6th –Elizabeth Gazeley, Valley City; 7th –Morningstar Williams, Bismarck High; 8th –Elizabeth Cave, Bismarck St. Mary’s.