Jackson County Central had three finalists, Fairmont had eight and each had a state champion as the state Class A speech tournament Friday at Shakopee High School.
Fairmont was third in the team standings and JCC tied for seventh.
Olivia Almodovar became the first ever JCC entrant to earn a state championship as she was first in Serious Interpretation-Poetry with her program about addiction.
Jackson High School had state champions in two straight years, Joy Peterson in Serious Interpretation-Poetry in 1985 and Darla Roggow in Extemporaneous Reading in 1986.
Fairmont’s state champion was the team of Grace Simpson and Oliver Thedens in Duo Interpretation. They were bronze medalists in that category last season.
Mounds Park Academy won its third consecutive team championship, sending 15 participants to the finals and totaled 69 points. Melrose was second with 58 points and Fairmont was third with 37. JCC tied for seventh.
Jackson County Central is coached by Renae Hemingway and Fairmont is coached by Kathleen Walker.
JCC state speech finalists
Serious Interpretation-Poetry: Olivia Almodóvar, 1st
Storytelling: Sarah Hedstrom, 4th
Informative Speaking: Aralia Ruby, 7th
Fairmont state speech finalists
Duo Interpretation: Grace Simpson and Oliver Thedens, Fairmont, 1st
Creative Expression: Zoey Tasseff, 3rd
Humorous Interpretation: Leon Yang, 6th
Serious Interpretation-Prose: Cooper Gudahl, 6th
Extemporaneous Speaking: Dominick Lund-May, 7th
Duo Interpretation: Grace Simpson/Oliver Thedens, 8th
Original Oratory: Alayna Haefner, 8th
Original Oratory: Belinda Lutterman, 8th
Team standings
Top 10 of 47
1. Mounds Park Academy 69, 2. Melrose 58, 3. Fairmont 37, 4. Staples-Motley 25, 5. Mankato Loyola 17, 6. Perham 16, 7. (tie) Jackson County Central, Red Lake County 15, 9. (tie) Dassel-Cokato, Chatfield 14.
State champions
Creative Expression: Logan Schad, Melrose
Discussion: Hayden Shulstad, Red Lake County
Duo Interpretation: Grace Simpson and Oliver Thedens, Fairmont
Extemporaneous Reading: Esther Kapsner, Melrose
Extemporaneous Speaking: Paul Fertig, Mounds Park Academy
Great Speeches: Teya Waagner, Mankato Loyola
Humorous Interpretation: Laken Hines, Staples-Motley
Informative Speaking: Olivia Opheim, Staples-Motley
Original Oratory: Reese Hunt, Perham
Serious Interpretation-Drama: Greta Kunene, Chatfield
Serious Interpretation-Poetry: Olivia Almodóvar, Jackson County Central
Serious Interpretation of Prose: Javyn Eidelbes, Thief River Falls
Storytelling: Andrew Harper, Russell-Tyler-Ruthton
State place winners
Following is the list of place winners in state competition from Jackson High School and Jackson County Central according to the website statespeech.com.
Listed are year, category, student(s) and place.
Jackson
1982
Discussion: Amy Dunker, 3rd
1984
Serious Interpretation-Poetry: Joy Peterson, 2nd
1985
Serious Interpretation-Poetry: Joy Peterson, 1st
1986
Extemporaneous Reading: Darla Roggow, 1st
1991
Informative Speaking: Kaylana Halm, 3rd
1991
Humorous Interpretation: Char Garber, 6th
Jackson County Central
2013
Humorous Interpretation: Nick Reed, Mary Choppins, 2nd
2014
Duo Interpretation: Natalie Schlager/Nick Reed, 4th
2015
Storytelling: Nick Reed, 4th
Creative Expression: Sofia Stumpf, 5th
2016
Duo Interpretation: Nick Reed/Josephine Nunez, 2nd
Extemporaneous Reading: Rebecca Dose, 3rd
2024
Serious Interpretation-Poetry: Olivia Almodovar, 5th
2025
Serious Interpretation-Poetry: Olivia Almodovar, 1st
Storytelling: Sarah Hedstrom, 4th
Informative Speaking: Aralia Ruby, 7th
Fairmont
Fairmont’s speech program has had 147 state place winners since 1987 including 21 state champions. Here’s the list of state champions:
2006
Humorous Interpretation: Miles Duffey
2007
Humorous Interpretation: Miles Duffey
Serious Interpretation-Drama: Colby Whitmore
2008
Informative Speaking: Sarah Bankson
2009
Informative Speaking: Sarah Bankson
2010
Informative Speaking: Sarah Bankson
Storytelling: Craig Gemmill
2011
Creative Expression: Matt Nordquist
Informative Speaking: Sarah Bankson
Storytelling: Craig Gemmill
2012
Extemporaneous Speaking: Eric Noll
Humorous Interpretation: Matt Nordquist
2013
Original Oratory: Caitlin Parsley
2014
Creative Expression: Zach Brown
Informative Speaking: Anagha Komaragiri
2015
Informative Speaking: Anagha Komaragiri
2016
Informative Speaking: Anagha Komaragiri
2021
Duo Interpretation: Tabitha Thatcher and Isabell Geiger
2024
Humorous Interpretation: Leon Yange
Original Oratory: Alayna Haefner
2025
Duo Interpretation: Grace Simpson and Oliver Thedens