The Prior Lake speech meet is unlike any other. I have only been to 3 meets so far as a Freshman but there has been a pretty consistent trend. Such as, the way breakings get posted after you’ve had enough time to eat a full course meal. But of course that doesn’t happen either because your only options for food are pizza, candy, and enough carbohydrates to give even ‘The Rock’ a heart attack. But the way Prior Lake does things still has it’s differences. All rounds are posted the same way but once you get to telling you who made finals, there is something that happens that can only be defined as ‘extra’ or as one of my friends said “just keeping it traditional.” We drop huge blue, gold, and white banners from the bridge. By the point this happens you’ve got a mosh pit of a crowd gathered at the base impatiently waiting to find out if they were good enough ‘speechers’ to qualify. Then once you find out it becomes even more chaotic. People start running every where in a frantic haste to get to their rooms and run through their speeches in one last hope that they’ll snag the top spot. And of course the women are doing all of this in heels. But of course as a novice there seems to be even more pressure. At the Prior Lake tournament all novice students are entered in as varsity, so you’re automatically being compared to people who to your knowledge are far more advanced than you could ever hope to be. At least that’s what was going through my head at saturday’s meet.

• Abbie Fouberg, first year on speech team

Now, three years later, the Prior Lake meet is still as exciting as the first. The rush of performing on your home turf never gets old. Walking into school and listening to the other teams “ahh” our entryway is a great way to start off the morning. Around an hour later, we make our way to fourth pod second floor to warm up with our gigantic team. Finally, around 4-5 hours later, the rush begins. Prior Lake’s traditional, yet fun, way to announce finals is always a blast. Seeing people scream and hug their friends as the rolls come down never gets old. After the celebration ends, we all make our way to finals, then the golden gym. As we find out who wins, the teams cheer on their speaker as they are handed their boat trophy and final roll.

• Preethi Kumar, third year on speech team

Walking from round to round brings out a whole new confidence when you actually know what room you’re going to and where it is. As you walk to the first round room, you see all your other competitors nervously practicing their speeches, hoping a last minute run through will do more good than harm. While you’re waiting for your judge to arrive, you huddle with your other speech friends, bubbling with both excitement and nerves. Your judge comes and you enter the familiar room. Your body starts to calm down when you realized your second hour meets in this exact room. Before you know it, you’re finished with your ten-minute speech, and you’re one third done, unless you break finals. The rest of the day zooms by as you continue giving your speech, finishing each round with a smile. After your third round, you make your way back to the table where you plopped all your stuff off before your first round. You start chatting with your teammates and wonder starts to take over…”will I break?” Being at your home meet brings more pressure to break, but you feel ready and confident. When that rolled up construction paper flies off the balcony like Rapunzel’s hair, you quickly spot your name, grab your water and pen, and you run to that final round.

• Natalie Hoepner, third year on speech team