Voit first at Marshall meet; gets NIETOC bid

Joe Voit of Minneota placed first in Extemporaneous Speaking on Saturday at the Marshall Speech meet, earning him a bid to the National Individual Events Tournament of Champions (NIETOC).
Melanie Engels was third in Storytelling, and Noah Harms was third in Novice Humor for the Vikings.
Wyatt Pohlen placed fifth in Discussion and Joey Clark was fifth in Storytelling. Cora Fischer came in sixth in Great Speeches.
"NIETOC is a really big tournament that's being hosted in Chanhassen in May," said Minneota coach Kim Gades. "The host school has to apply to be a bid tournament, and students have to get two bids to qualify for it."
Minneota has never competed at NIETOC before because students need two bids to be eligible to compete and Marshall is the only tournament the Vikings compete in that has a qualifier.
"It's just cool to know that Joe was able to secure one," Gades notes.
While the junior high speech team has two meets this week in Luverne and Tyler, the varsity will next compete in Montevideo on Saturday, March 4.
"We will have a small contingent (on Saturday) due to the Robotics team taking Joe, Noah and Carson to that competition in Duluth (Regionals on March 2-5)," said Minneota coach Kim Gades.
"Cora will pull double duty in Montevideo that day because after the speech meet, she will be taking stats for the boys' basketball team (the Vikings play at 4 p.m. in the Section 3A-North tournament that day). "I'm proud of my team for being involved in the school community. They are doing great things at our competitions and contributing to the MHS culture."