Six from CCS qualify for state speech

    One of the largest groups in years from Chase County Schools has qualified for the High School State Speech Contest next week in Kearney.
    Six CCS students qualified in six events after placing third as a team Feb. 28 in the C1-6 District Speech Contest at Bridgeport High School.
    Speech coaches Alex Schilke and Jill Bauerle took 15 students to districts. The top three in each event qualified for state.
    Here are the CCS qualifiers:
    Brayan Cazares, a two-time state qualifier, was District Champion in the Program of Oral Interpretation division. Cazares also qualified in Serious Prose after placing second.
    George Colton, Zach Herbert and Andrew Wiest, 2nd in Oral Interpretation of Drama.
    Andrew Wiest, 2nd in Humorous Prose.
    Annika McDaniel, 3rd in Entertainment Speaking.
    Aragorn Green, 3rd in Oral Interpretation of Poetry.
    Two other CCS students made the finals, but finished below third place.
    Jayme Gittlein finished 5th in Persuasive Speaking while Paige Nickless was 6th in Humorous Prose.
    “While the following students did not make finals, their speaker points did help our team place third,” Bauerle said.
    Kathya Aragon and Kylee Wiest in Duet Acting.
    Navy Smith in Persuasive.
    Jasmine Johnson in Poetry.
    Kobe Norman in Entertainment.
    Katelyn Stamm in Extemporaneous and Informative.
    Zach Herbert in Informative.
    Chase County competes in Class C1 and will travel to  Kearney High School next Thursday, March 16, for state competition. Class C2 also competes the same day.
    Classes A and B compete March 15, while D1 and D2 are slated for March 17, all at Kearney High School.