ROCHELLE — The Rochelle Township High School Speech team can boast five conference champion designations which were determined at the Jan. 14 tournament RTHS hosted and took second place in.  

The 2023 I-8 Conference Speech Champions included: Paul Swartz/Mikayla Preston in Dramatic Duet Acting, Mikayla Preston in Dramatic Interpretation, Paul Swartz for Informative Speaking and Z Brizuela for Oratorical Declamation.

Other team members earning medals included: Aiden Ramsey 2nd Place Radio Speaking, Bella Nauman 2nd Place Oratory and Vi Hull 2nd Place Prose Reading.

Third place: Aiden Ramsey Impromptu Speaking, Jessica Nguyen Oratory, Vi Hull Special Occasion Speaking and Bella Nauman 3rd Place Oratorical Declamation.

Fourth place: Pigeon Burgholzer/Brooklyn Hull Humorous Duet Acting, Z Brizuela Dramatic Interpretation, Jessica Nguyen Informative Speaking and Tilly Gonser Special Occasion Speaking,

Fifth place: Ashes Glover Poetry Reading, Lucas Smardo Radio Speaking, Paul Swartz Extemporaneous Speaking, Sienna Seebach Original Comedy and Karma Lidren Humorous Interpretation

Sixth place: Jimmy Chavez Extemporaneous Speaking, Alayna Smardo Oratorical Declamation, Pigeon Burgholzer/Mae Owen Dramatic Duet Acting, Liam Wise Informative Speaking, Liam Wise Impromptu Speaking, Alayna Smardo Oratorical Declamation and Karma Lidren Original Comedy.

Seventh place: Hailey Bunger/Alayna Smardo Humorous Duet Acting.

The speaker of the week was Mikayla Preston. Morris High School’s Speech Team earned the I-8 championship title.