The three Minnesota State Speech Tournament qualifiers left Luverne High School at 8 a.m. Wednesday, April 10, ahead of an ice storm that closed roads and left hundreds without electrical power.
Coaches Gavin Folkestad and Caroline Thorson and students Seno Chanthalangsy, Shane Berning and Chance Tunnissen arrived at their hotel almost seven hours later.
The group scrambled to prepare for their last-minute early departure but came to a screeching halt on U.S. Highway 169 near LeSueur where accidents in heavy snow backed up traffic.
“We were rerouted to a LeSueur exit and swung back up to 169 farther north,” Thorson said. “We never topped 40 (mph) until we were almost to the outskirts of the Cities.”
Luverne students connected on social media with other speech students from Adrian and Windom high schools, as their vehicles were also stopped in the traffic jam.
Wayzata High School hosted the April 12-13 state tournament.
The top 24 students in each of the 13 speech categories from the 93 Class A schools including Luverne competed on Friday.
For Luverne High School senior Shane Berning, the third trip to the state tournament yielded his best performance of his five-year speech career.
He entered the final rounds for the first time and finished eighth in extemporaneous speaking.
He also earned All-State honors.
Chance Tunnissen, a freshman, competed in the same extemporaneous category as Berning. This is his second trip to the state tournament.
Tunnissen finished just outside the eight-member finals at 12th place.
In his first trip to the state tournament, sophomore Seno Chanthalangsy finished ninth in humorous interpretation, one place out of the finals.
Adrian senior earns third speech medal
Adrian High School sent three students to the state speech tournament.
Tournament officials recognized senior Sabdi Bravo in a press release for earning her third state medal.
Bravo was one of eight competitors out of the 312 students competing at this year’s state meet to earn a third medal.
She finished in fourth place in informative speaking. Last year Bravo placed second, and in 2017 she was sixth.
Tommy Morrison, also a senior, competed in original oratory at the state tournament for the first time.
Junior Maritz Beltran competed in the poetry category.