This year for speech team was one full of medals—124 collectively won—and three first place trophies.

“This is by far the most successful season we have had in my four years of participating in speech,” captain Deirdre Sheldon ‘15 said. “Not only have we won more medals collectively than ever before, but the effort and time that each individual participant put forward indicated the drive we had to succeed. This team practiced more frequently, spent more time on their pieces and asked each other for help more than any team I have ever seen before.”

Speech team took a full team for 15 events to the regionals. Thirteen out of 14 individual events advanced to the final round, and six of those 13 events qualified for sectionals. At sectionals, only three individual events moved on to the final round, and none advanced to the state competition. That was where their season concluded.

“This was very exciting, as only two years ago we were excited just to have one student advance,” Head Coach Kristen Manthei said. “At sectionals a competitor must score in the top three spots in order to advance to state, and unfortunately that didn’t happen for us this year.”

Key members of the team that did well this season include: Sheldon, Steven Vogel ‘15, Riley Carroll ‘15 and Tim O’Malley ‘16. However, the whole team was collectively strong, including the newer members, captain Melissa Fuentes ‘16 said.

“We have so many talented and hardworking individuals on the team, and many of them were first year members, which was extremely impressive,” Fuentes said. “I’d say this is the best season LT Speech has had to date.”

Even though the team did not make it to state, they are looking forward to next season. They hope to make some slight changes that will allow the team to be more prepared when they go to the state competition. They hope to add a few tougher tournaments to their agenda and may make two separate teams—a JV and a varsity team—so the varsity can become more competitive, Manthei said.

“I can honestly say I am 100 percent confident in leaving the team in the underclassmen’s hands next year,” Sheldon said. “We have a very strong junior representation on the team, and I know that they are going to rock it next season. I pray that they can go to State and experience how awesome it is, but I especially hope they can learn more about themselves and public speaking.”