Josh Raabe’s cast list of humorous characters propels him to title
The state of the State – is a championship for Mountain Lake Christian (MLC) senior orator Josh Raabe of Mountain Lake, the son of Scott and Joan Raabe.
Raabe won the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) Class A Speech Tournament title in Humorous Interpretation. The tourney was held today (Friday, April 15), at Lakeville North Public High School. The MSHSHL Class AA contest is tomorrow (Saturday, April 16), in the same location.
Raabe’s day included competing in three preliminary rounds prior to earning his way into the category’s final round of eight contestants, culled from the 24 competing in the earlier rounds. In making finals, Raabe was recognized in first-place after the trio of preliminary rounds – placing on top in each round.
His cutting from The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee by Rachel Sheinkin – and his lengthy cast of different humorous characters – propelled Raabe to first with 10 final round points – earning 1-1-4-1-3 from the five judges. Receiving the silver was Matthew Koring of Walker-Hackensack-Akeley Public High School with 19 points (2-7-7-2-1). Bronze was awarded to Riley Lannon of Mounds Park Academy, also with 19 points (7-3-1-3-5). The remaining five competitors, in order of finish were – fourth, Jacob Polovick, Browerville-Eagle Valley (23 points); fifth, Tia Dahmen of Cass Lake-Bena (23 points); sixth, Andraya Parenteau of Hawley (26 points); seventh, Sarah Dunn of River Valley (29 points) and eighth, Alex Erickson of Staples/Motley (31 points).
This championship completes a clean competition sweep for the senior – first in South Sub-Section 2A, first in Section 2A and first in State Class A.
MLC coaches are Kim Friesen and Elijah Stoesz.
