Smith, Rundle place at state speech

By FAITH MOLDAN

Bigfork Eagle

“It’s what she’s been working for all year,” Bigfork High School Speech and Drama coach Charlie Appleby said about Kelsey Smith’s first place finish in expository speaking at the Montana Class A Speech and Drama Tournament.

Smith, a junior, finished first out of 23 competitors in the expository category in Billings Jan. 26-27 with her speech on “Alice in Wonderland.” Teammate Abby Rundle placed sixth in the impromptu category. Brianna Sefcak, Tari Casias and Krisie Henderson also competed in Billings. Sefcak qualified for the semi-finals in serious solo. Casias and Henderson competed in the serious oral interpretation category.

“She blew away the competition,” Appleby said of Smith.

“I just relaxed and tried not to think about it,” Smith said about the competition which consisted of four normal rounds, a power round in which all the speakers who finished first at divisionals compete against each other, semi-finals and finals.

Smith said she thought she was doing well throughout the day, and that being awarded first place “was really exciting.” A member of the speech and drama team since middle school, Smith said many of the judges commented on her “phenominal posters” and “good speaking voice.”

Smith finished seventh in expository speaking at last year’s state tournament.

With this year’s speech and drama season done, Smith said she and Appleby are planning on starting a speech and drama team for middle school students. The team would compete one time, to gain experience and learn more about speech and drama.

Despite describing the weekend as very stressful, Rundle also said that in the end “it was just awesome.”

Rundle, also a junior, recently switched to the impromptu category after a disappointing season in the serious solo category. She said she decided to make the switch to impromptu because it was short and did not require a lot of preparation. The state tournament was just her second time competing in impromptu.

“I didn’t think I’d win state in serious solo,” Rundle said. She added that if she qualified for state she wanted her time there to be a learning experience.

In the impromptu category, speakers have three minutes to prepare their speech which is often inspired by a quotation or editorial cartoon. They then have 3-5 minutes to deliver their speech.

The quotation Rundle had to base her speech on in the final round was “Success is like peeing your pants, everyone can see it but only you can feel its warmth.” Rundle said she did not know what to do at first, but spoke about achieving success at the personal, national and international levels.

“I was completely lost,” Rundle said about the competition. She added that speaking in the impromptu category requires speakers to have knowledge about a variety of topics.

“You try to watch the news and know what’s going on,” Rundle said. “I quoted a rapper in one round at divisionals and “Seussical the Musical” in another.”

Rundle placed fifth in serious solo at last year’s state tournament.

This marks the second year that the Bigfork High School Speech and Drama team has had a state champion. Last year Amy Kuhn took first in the impromptu category. Jamie Morgenstern also placed in impromptu at last year’s state tournament, finishing third.