Doniphan-Trumbull High School finished second and Centura took third. St. Paul was fourth, Gibbon was fifth, Wood River was sixth, and Hastings St. Cecilia was seventh.

Only the top two medalists in each event advance to the State Speech Meet, scheduled for March 18 at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.

Central Catholic's Laura Wirth earned first place medals in both informative public address and in persuasive speaking.

Other first place finishes went to Hannah Davis in entertainment speaking, Tim Dvorak in extemporaneous speaking and MaKayla Jones in poetry.

Finishing second and also qualifying for state were Katie Harris, serious prose; Maegan Kellogg, MiKayla Northup and Alysia Strong, oral interpretation of drama; Marie Lesiak, poetry; and Jacob Nordhues, humorous prose.

Other students earned medals were Dvorak, third in entertainment speaking; Sophie Foster and Catherine McGowan, third in duet acting; Rachel Moore, third in informative public address; Joey Starkey, third in extemporaneous speaking; and Davis, fourth in humorous prose.

Central Catholic's Speech Team is coached by Pam Krall, Dan Garlick, Ron Bailey and Chris Golka.

Centura High School was led by Dan Simmons who won the humorous interpretation of prose literature event and by Kayla Millspaugh who won the serious interpretation of prose literature event.

Centura's team of Matt Osburn, Emily Webb, Patrick Hester, Simmons and Emily Nielson won the oral interpretation of drama event.

Other Centura state qualifiers were Erik Williams, second in entertainment speaking; and Michael Heinz, second in informative speaking.

In duet acting, the Doniphan-Trumbull team of Matthew Cashoili and Lacie Wiese took first place, and the Wood River team of Kevin Romero and Josh Grell placed second to also qualify for state.

Lauren Geiger of Doniphan-Trumbull finished second in extemporaneous speaking to also qualify for state.