By Christine Erntson and Christal Ruppert
April 20, 2021 | 7 p.m.

After first-place finishes at the speech section tournament, PACT’s top speech students are headed to the MSHSL State Tournament this weekend.

Olivia Bailey ‘23 placed finished the season with five 1st-place finishes. This is Bailey’s third year in storytelling, with her first appearance at the section tournament in 2019 landing her in fourth place, just one spot away from qualifying for the state tournament. After the 2020 section and state tournaments were canceled, she finished the 2021 season as the top storyteller in the section. As one of the team’s captains, Bailey’s hard work and dedication extend well beyond her speaking skills, too; she has spent hours at practice helping her teammates and working on creative themes to keep each Saturday tournament fresh and fun. 

The dynamic duo of Anthony Carlson ‘21 and Lillian Thomas ‘21 finished their season with eight 1st-place finishes. While this is Thomas’s fourth year in speech, third in duo, and Carlson’s first year, they’ve both performed in PACT Drama productions together for years and have synchronicity that is hard to beat. As with most things in the pandemic, guidelines for duo have shifted throughout the season; though they competed synchronously with a plexiglass divider at one tournament, Carlson and Thomas have had to pre-record most of their performances to compete asynchronously. Despite the extra restrictions, Thomas and Carlson have worked hard and kept positive attitudes, raising the bar for the whole team. 

The state tournament will be held virtually on Saturday, April 24. Follow the team and results on the PACT Speech Facebook page.