Prater, Fischer Crowned D2 Duet Acting Runners Up
Launch the media gallery 1 playerThe EPS Speech Team concluded their season on an impressive note.
The duet team of Ethan Fischer and Ivy Prater earned runners up medals for their state qualifying performance. The duo placed second among all Class D2 Duet Acting teams in Nebraska.
Thirteen EPS team members competed in five events at the Nebraska State Speech Championships held in Kearney on Friday.
Qualification for finals was based on two preliminary rounds, each featuring one judge. The final rounds were evaluated by two judges.
EPS's other qualifying events all came within mere points of making it to the final round.
Katie Polk placed 7th overall in Serious Prose, missing a medal by one place. Ivy Prater placed 8th overall in Entertainment Speaking. The OID team of Travis Grosserode, Christopher Bush, Alois Warner, Dylan Widger, and Kenny Bush placed 9th. The OID team of Hunter Thramer, Allison Koenig, Taya Voborny, Jaime Hoefer, and Zoey Bergman placed 12th.
As a team EPS placed 16th out of 42 teams.
Co-coaches Jessie Reestman and Stacy Shumake-Henn had words of praise for their team.
"These kids performed their little hearts out, and we couldn't have asked any more of them. Each event delivered its best performance of the season, and that was reflected on the judges' ballots. Any time you are competing at the state level, the competition is going to be tough, and we ranked right up there with some of the top competitors."
The coaches were also very proud of their runners up.
"A huge congratulations goes out to Ethan and Ivy for medaling at the state level. Many people don't understand what a difficult task this can be, and it seems to grow tougher each year."
Reestman and Shumake-Henn attribute much of the team's success to the kids involved with the team.
"We were blessed with a great group of kids this year who are not afraid of hard work. They did a great job of hanging in there even when it wasn't all fun and games. They are just terrific kids."