St. Michael-Albertville Speech Sending Contingent to State

St. Buffaville speech will be sending four entries to the state tournament out of 10 finalists for the first time in school history, capping a night that was "worth the wait" according to students and coaches.

The great performances in the final rounds of Section 5AA competition at Blaine High School Friday April 13^th capped a season of firsts, records, and high achievements for the speech team.

Two students will represent the school at state as section champions: Jed Rothstein in extemporaneous speaking and the duo of Michael Bruner and Katrina Budde. Also advancing in second place was Mike Papas in creative expression and in third place was Isaac Heieie in prose.

“I’m feeling on top of the world right now,” said an exhilarated Budde on the bus home. For Papas during awards, making it past fourth place meant he would go to state, regardless of placing. “I realized I was going to state again. It was the best feeling ever.”

Advancing to the section final but not going to state were: Gabrielle Thompson, great speeches, fourth place; Annie Moore, original oratory, fourth; Leah Odegard in drama, fifth place; Nicole Logeais in extemporaneous reading, fifth; and the duo of Christine Lenneman and Mallory Schneider in sixth place.

“I am so proud of what the kids did tonight,” said assistant coach Molly Leuthner. “We have multiple people going to state in many categories.”

For head coach Mike Frickstad, he sees a bright future from this finish. “We had a very young team overall this year, and while it is mostly seniors going to state, except for Jed, the team did very well and will be a strong group next year.”

Seniors Heieie and Papas will both be returning to state for the second time in their school careers, another historic milestone for STMA.  Heieie qualified last year and Papas went in 2010. Logeais, a sophomore, made her second appearance in the section final.

STMA finished third in the team points, a best for the team in the tough 5AA section tournament. Centennial High School won the section title for the 15^th time in 16 years.  Due to MSHSL rules St. Michael-Albertville and Buffalo were competing as separate teams on paper and team points were tallied accordingly. With the split, STMA finished a mere five points behind second-place Blaine.

“That’s one more person,” said Frickstad.

 The MSHSL Class AA state speech tournament will be held at Chanhassen High School Saturday, April 21 with three rounds and a final following the Class A tournament Friday night. First round is at 10:15 a.m., the second at 11:45 a.m., and the third at 1:15 p.m.. The speakers who advance to the top eight will go on to the final round at 3:30 p.m.. Admission to watch the tournament is free and open to the public.