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   Last Thursday evening, the WHA Speech Team hosted the Subsection 29A Speech Tournament. The subsection tournament is the first elimination competition on the road to the state tournament. WHA High School hosted five area teams, including Blackduck, Laporte, Cass Lake-Bena, Fosston-Bagley, and Park Rapids. There were 64 entries total from the six competing schools. Walker entered 15 speakers into the competition and advanced 14 to the Section 8A tournament. 

   The following speakers competed at the tournament: Katelyn DeLost placed 1st in Creative, Ada Muller placed 2nd in Discussion, Madison Kendrick placed 1st in Drama, Julie Schock placed 2nd in Drama, Abagayle Audette placed 3rd in Extemp. Reading, Natalie Resch-Seely placed 1st in Extemp. Speaking, Sophie Landreville placed 2nd in Great Speeches, Leo Burns placed 1st in Humor, Elayna Freeman placed 4th in Humor, Reagan Tabaka placed 1st in Informative, Tristan Damar placed 3rd in Informative, Sora Bauerly placed 1st in Oratory, Layla Kruekeberg placed 5th in Poetry, Lola Kruekeberg placed 8th in Poetry, and Elijah Cox placed 2nd in Prose. 

   In the team sweepstakes, Walker, Fosston-Bagely, Park Rapids, Blackduck, Laporte, and Cass Lake-Bena placed 1st through 6th respectively. 

   This has been an eventful year for the Walker Talkers to say the least. The team hosted three tournaments at home, many speakers competed in multiple activities simultaneously, and unpredictable winter weather made getting to practice and tournaments difficult. However, despite these challenges, the team was able to come together and outperform its competitors in this first playoff tournament. The Section 8A tournament, hosted by the Fosston-Bagley Speech Team, will take place this Thursday, April 13th in Fosston. In order to qualify for the state tournament, speakers must advance to the final round of their category and place within the top three speakers. The team will be working hard this week in practice to ensure a strong performance at the section tournament. 

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