Disappointing End To Speech Season

Area speech teams who had qualified, made the trip to DeKalb last Saturday for the IHSA Speech Sectional competition and a chance to be one of only 18 kids in the entire state to qualify for the State finals in Peoria.

Unlike every other IHSA sport, Speech is not broken down by "class", so the small schools like Stockton, Lena-Winslow, Galena and River Ridge all have to compete against kids from Bartlett, DeKalb, Crystal Lake South and Grant - not to mention Freeport, Byron and Sterling.

Just making it into the final round of the Sectional means you are one of only 36 kids left in the en...