HNS speech team is off to a great start

HARTINGTON – The Hartington-Newcastle High School speech team has talked its way to the top of its first competition of the 2024 season.

Co-host Hartington-Newcastle won the varsity division of the 18-team Hartington-Newcastle/ Cedar Catholic Invitational with 163 points on Jan. 27. Wayne was the runner-up with 161 points.

“I’m excited for the season,” said A.J. Johnson, who is in his 27th year as Hartington-Newcastle’s head speech coach. “We’ve got great kids who work hard. They are fun to work with and want to compete. If we continue to work hard to grow our performances, we will have a successful season.”

There were two sets of individual varsity finals during the meet – the top six finishers in the Champs Final and the next six finishers in the Honors Final.

Hartington-Newcastle’s varsity medalists in the Champs Final were: - Informative Speaking: Senior Kennedy Gotch, first; sophomore Hazel Hochstein, fifth.

- Serious Prose: Sophomore Issac Santiago, second; sophomore Dane Gotch, fourth.

- Poetry: Senior Kaylee Ptak, second; junior Ryell Haug, fifth.

- Oral Interpretation of Drama: Junior Cole Heimes, freshman Jason Heimes, senior Mani Lange, sophomore Lainey Morten and senior Dayton Sudbeck, second; sophomore Dane Gotch, freshman Trevon Hopping, sophomore Carter Kelly, sophomore Issac Santiago and freshman Austin Sudbeck, third.

- Duet Acting: Sophomores Dane Gotch and Issac Santiago, second; seniors Mani Lange and Dayton Sudbeck, fourth.

- Persuasive Speaking: Senior Alexus Hans, third.

- Program of Oral Interpretation: Senior Kennedy Gotch, third.

- Entertainment Speaking: Senior Alexus Hans, fifth.

- Humorous Prose: Sophomore Lainey Morten, fifth.

Hartington-Newcastle varsity team members in the Honors Final were: - Persuasive Speaking: Senior Emma Wubben, first.

- Entertainment Speaking: Junior Cole Heimes, third.

The Hartington-Newcastle junior varsity team placed fifth in the competition’s JV division and its medalists were: - Program of Oral Interpretation: Sophomore Trynity Zach, first.

- Humorous Prose: Freshman Trevon Hopping, second.

- Extemporaneous Speaking: Sophomore Trynity Zach, second; Freshman Gabe Reyes, sixth.

Johnson noted his 19 students started speech practice over Christmas break for this season.

“The kids have been working hard,” Johnson said. “The two weeks in January where we had just one full day of school with six snow days, two early outs and a late start hurt our preparation, but I’m confident that we will catch up.

“We have several returning State medalists from last year, including Kennedy Gotch, Alexus Hans, Dayton Sudbeck, Mani Lange, Cole Heimes, Ryell Haug, Dane Gotch, Carter Kelly, Issac Santiago, as well as returning seniors Emma Wubben and Kaylee Ptak, who both had great seasons last year,and sophomores Lainey Morten and Hazel Hochstein, who both qualified for State last year, and Trynity Zach, who also had a good season as a freshman,” he said.

Hartington-Newcastle, competing again in Class C2, was the State runner-up last year and won the State title in 2022.

“I just want us to be as good as we can,” Johnson said. “I want us to want to compete and want to practice. I hope they learn how to become better speakers and leaders. We’ve got another great group of seniors that are highly motivated. We will follow the example they set.”

After co-hosting its own meet on Jan. 27 to open the speech season, Hartington-Newcastle hit the road to Wayne on Feb. 3 for the Wayne High/ Wayne State Classic.

Hartington-Newcastle then will compete at Wausa on Feb. 10, and then at Crofton on Feb. 17.

It is still to be determined where Hartington-Newcastle will compete on March 2, if it does.

However, on March 4, Hartington-Newcastle will travel to Osmond for the Lewis and Clark Conference Speech Contest.

Hartington-Newcastle will host the District C2-3 speech contest, which has been scheduled for March 11.

The 2024 Nebraska School Activities Association State Speech Championships for Class C2 are set for March 21 at Kearney High School.

“I’m looking forward to seeing if we can reach our potential,” Johnson said. “I love coaching speech because each kid can learn and grow from where they are at, and there are so many successes during the season, whether or not they win