West Fargo Horace was named champion of the seventy-third annual North Dakota High School Activities Association (NDHSAA) Sponsored State Class A Speech Tournament, held at Jamestown High School on April 18, according to an April 21 announcement. Bismarck St. Mary’s took second place, with Fargo South and West Fargo Sheyenne finishing third and fourth respectively.
The tournament brought together students who qualified through regional or invitational tournaments during the regular season. The event recognizes excellence in speech across a variety of categories and highlights the skills of high school students from across North Dakota.
In addition to team honors, Crystal Michels of Minot was elected by her peers as the 2026 State A Speech Coach of the Year. The competition featured top finishers in fourteen categories such as Serious Prose, Humorous Interpretation, Poetry, Dramatic Interpretation, Duo events, Extemporaneous Speaking, Impromptu Speaking, Storytelling, Radio Broadcasting and more.
Among individual achievements: Melissa Tarpeh from West Fargo Horace won first place in Serious Prose; Emmaleigh Francis from West Fargo Horace took first in Humorous; Gavin Schaffenberger also from West Fargo Horace earned top honors in Poetry; Kiara Irizarry from Mandan led Dramatic Interpretation; Nikky Le and Logan Rude (West Fargo Horace) were champions in Humorous Duo; Liam Rude and Lucy Scherbenske (West Fargo Horace) topped Serious Duo. Several categories saw ties for first place including EPR (Sara Utley of West Fargo Horace and Cora Wixo-Mcgavin of Fargo South), as well as Impromptu Speaking (Isabel Scherer of Fargo Davies and Madison Arness of Fargo South).
Other notable winners included Rita Goettle (Bismarck St. Mary’s) for Storytelling; Leah Dokken (Minot) for Speech to Entertain; Setiya Hamidi (Fargo Davies) for both Extemp Speaking and Speech to Persuade; Elena Weng (West Fargo Sheyenne) for Speech to Inform; Andrew Walters (Watford City) for Radio Broadcasting.
The annual state tournament serves as a culminating event celebrating student achievement in speech activities throughout North Dakota high schools.
