Nebraska City speech places five at Louisville meet

LOUISVILLE - The Nebraska City speech team was back in action last weekend, competing at the Louisville Invitational. 

The Pioneers took on 13 other schools in the event, finishing seventh overall in the team sweepstakes. Nebraska City had five competitors place in five different categories.

The two fifth place finishers were Isabelle Bare in Extemporaneous speaking and Jaden Leasure in Serious Prose speaking. Ace Reed took home fourth place in Novice Poetry. 

Ethan Graves, competing in Novice Entertainment, accepted a second place finish at the event.

Valerie Bennie was also a second place medalist at the meet. Bennie clashed with competitors in the Persuasive speaking category.

Bennie was a semi-finalist in the teams previous meet at Lincoln Southwest, which earned her one of the two required bids to be eligible to compete in the National Individual Events Tournament of Champions (NIETOC) later in the spring. 

Nebraska City will compete next at the conference tournament in a few weeks. 

Nebraska City also has a community and parent night scheduled for Feb. 26 at 5 p.m.

The event is open to the public.