Press Release

1/17/07

Jefferson Duo Placed Third at Florida

Speech Tournament

     Marcus Mann, left, and Spencer Cross, right, placed

       third in the Crestian Speech Tournament in

       Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

Bloomington Jefferson seniors Marcus Mann and Spencer Cross advanced to the final round of duo interpretation and finished third out of over 70 entries at the 2007 Crestian Speech Tournament in Ft. Lauderale, Florida, January 12-14.  Mann was ecstatic about the finish. "We were just hoping to break to quarterfinals at this tournament, " said Mann. "We couldn't believe it when we kept advancing."

Head speech coach Scott Sieling was also pleased with the results. "I told the students that I expected someone to advance, but that was all, " Sieling said. "I knew it would be tough to make it to the final round, so I was really excited that Marcus and Spencer did so well."

Four other members of the traveling speech team competed in the Florida tournament. Senior Jane Meyer and junior Madison Rubenstein just missed advancing to the quarterfinals in humorous and drama, respectively. Sophomores Mariah Helgeson and Bridget Hart competed in extemporaneous speaking and drama, repective

The regular speech team season will start on January 26-27 with a tournament in Marshall, Minnesota. The traveling team will go to one more out-of-state tournament in February when they compete at the Berkley Tournament in San Francisco February 15-19.