The Talking Panthers speech team traveled to Sacred Heart High School in Sedalia Saturday to compete in the annual speech tournament, advancing five events to the final round, more than either of the two previous competitions this season.

Freshmen Britany Minckler and Shannon O’Neil took sixth in Improvisational Duet Acting. Also placing in IDA were Hali Still and Michael Willams. They took third in Williams’ first time in this competition.

Senior Jasmine Barr placed fourth in Original Works, performing a short story she had written.

Kirsten Orndoff, sophomore, returned to the final round this year, taking second in Poetry.

Junior Kortnie Bellury repeated as a medal-winner for the second tournament in a row, placing second in Original Oratory.

Some of the squad members also earned new degrees in the National Forensics League, a speech and debate honor society. These new degrees are earned by accumulating points awarded in each competitive round. Kirsten Orndoff and Ashley Meierhofer earned their Honor degrees, the second level up in the NFL.

Hali Still and Kortnie Bellury earned enough points to become new members of the NFL and received their Merit degrees.