Speech winners at Park Rapids Eight Cardinal speakers won awards in the Park Rapids Invitational Speech Tournament Feb. 20. They are (from left): Samantha Weyer, Gemma Shaffer, Shelby Wilds, Jon Nypan, A.J. Smith, Jaci Jeziorski, Tera Weyer and Sierra DeGeest. The team tied the East Grand Forks team for the third place sweepstakes trophy. Nineteen teams competed in the tournament. (Photo by Don Sanda)) The Staples Motley Speech team had a successful Saturday at the Park Rapids speech invitational held Feb. 20.

Senior Shelby Wilds earned the championship medal in Great Speeches. Other medalists were Jon Nypan, second in Extemporaneous Reading and A.J. Smith,third in Prose.

Sierra DeGeest in Drama, Tera Weyer in Humor, Samantha Weyer in Informative, Jaci Jeziorski in Poetry and Gemma Shaffer in Storytelling all received blue ribbons.

The team faced stiff competition, but still did quite well. Of the 18 teams eligible for sweepstakes trophies, the Cardinals finished in a tie for third place.

Senior Extemporaneous Reader Beth Hoyt was pleased with the outcome of the meet and said, “It was a tough meet, but it was still a lot of fun.”