MOUNT VERNON

The Highland Huskie individual speech team competed on Saturday, Feb. 24 at Mount Vernon High School for the district individual speech contest. The day was long but fruitful for Head Coach Jayme Kallaus and her team. Of the seven total performances, all but two qualified for the state contest.

Three individuals who qualified a performance to state include Seniors Gwen Piette and Allyana Pokorny, as well as sophomore Greta Piette. In addition to qualifying one performance for state, Pokorny and Greta Piette qualified their second performances as well for the state contest.

The first state qualifier of the day was Greta Piette, who earned a I rating in the After Dinner Speaking category. Older sister Gwen performed second on the schedule for Highland, and earned a II rating for her vocals in the Solo Musical Theatre category. Also earning a rating of II was freshman Saturn Lana for reading a selection of poems in the Poetry category.

State bids were aplenty in the afternoon with every performance earning a I rating. Two of those four performances came from Allyana Pokorny in the Prose and Expository Address categories. The Piette sisters each had one performance as well in the afternoon, with the older Gwen performing in the Storytelling category, and the younger Greta singing in the Solo Musical Theatre category.

Next up for the Highland Speech team will be the Southeast Iowa State Individual Speech competition at Xavier High School on Saturday, March 9. The Huskie trio of Pokorny and the Piette sisters will await word from the Iowa High School Speech Association if any performances receive All-State bids. The All-State festival will occur on Monday, March 25 on the campus of the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls.