John's Journal: The Comeback Of The Century

Inside a trophy case at Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted High School sits a big, beautiful plaque that lists all the students who have qualified for the MSHSL state speech tournament. It’s a major accomplishment to go to state, and 19 members of the Lakers speech program have done so.

Four more HLWW students will compete at the Class A state tournament on Friday at Shakopee High School, including a senior named Darby Frei who will compete in Humorous Interpretation. How she got there is quite a wild story.

Darby has competed in speech since ninth grade. She has been to state as a spectator but never as a qualifier. She had high hopes this year, dreaming of a spot at state. She had a great season, too. Her presentation is a spoof on the Wizard of Oz, written by Dan Zolidis.

The road to state for Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted students includes two steps: a subsection meet in Class A Section 5, which winnows down the field for the 5A section championships. If you finish high enough, you keep advancing.

The subsection meet was held April 3 at HLWW. That’s when disaster struck. The top six finishers advance to sections and Darby finished eighth. This was crushing. This was the end of the season and the end of Darby’s high school speech career.

She wasn’t overconfident before subsections, but she went in “Thinking I’d kick absolute butt.” That did not happen. Humorous Interpretation can be a subjective category and sometimes judges may not have a sense of humor that matches the performance.

Behind the scenes, Darby was devastated. But as a team captain, she helped out during the subsection awards presentation, congratulating students from her schools and others.

“After learning she didn’t place, she had to hand out awards and hold her composure on stage,” said HLWW speech coach Annette Hystad.

Darby said, “It was heartbreaking, it was like a stab wound that hurt real bad. But it was really fun to watch all my friends make it to sections.”

The section meet was held April 12 at Annandale. Darby was there to support her teammates, knowing that would be her role. She did bring along the attire she wears to compete; a dark jacket, dark pants and black heels. She was an alternate at sections, which doesn’t usually mean much because alternates rarely get called to compete. But …

“I went there at the crack of dawn to watch my team and support them and go as an alternate,” she said. “I knew I wasn’t going to get in because why would anybody drop out? I congratulated my team and said, ‘I’ll watch you.’ ”

Behind the scenes, things were happening fast. A Humorous Interpretation competitor couldn’t be at the meet because of a death in the family. Darby and a student from Albany were the alternates in Humorous.

When Hystad learned of the situation, she was with Albany coach Dana Amdahl.

“Dana and myself both had a humor kid sitting there,” she said. “Dana reached for a coin, called tails and it landed heads.”

That was the magic moment for Darby. She was back in the game.

“Hystad came running out, saying, ‘There was a drop, there was a drop.’ I was like, ‘WHAT?’ ”

Darby changed into her game-day attire, found the room where her category was being held and did her thing.

She hadn’t practiced for a week but her father, Andy Frei, had some good advice for Darby before she competed.

“My dad was like, ‘You’re in it now, you might as well kill it.’ ”

Three rounds of competitions are held, after which the top eight competitors advance to the championship round. The students were gathered in the school cafeteria, waiting for the names of the finalists to be listed on a big screen

“It was nerve-wracking,” Darby said. “I was like, ‘I made it here on a whim, I won’t make it.’ And my name popped up. Everyone was like, ‘This is the comeback of the century.’ ”

She performed in the final round, after which the finishers, No. 1 through No. 8, would be announced in the auditorium. The top three in each category would advance to state.

She was sitting in the auditorium waiting for her category to be called. The Humorous Interpretation kids gathered on the stage and medals were handed out, beginning with eighth place.

“I walked onto the stage and said, ‘Heck yeah guys, we made it this far.’ ”

Eighth place was awarded. Then seventh. Then sixth and on down the line.

“The numbers started getting lower and lower,” Darby said. “My mouth was wide open. I got called for second, I stepped forward and the whole auditorium gasped.”

After her friend Levi Nelson from Dassel-Cokato was named the section champion, Darby and Levi shared a long hug.

“My dad was crying. Hystad was crying,” she said.

As all this was happening, everybody at the meet was following Darby’s progress

“Every single coach was checking her scores as much as they were checking their own,” said Hystad. “They were all saying, ‘Annette, did you see that? She’s in the top group.’ Every coach was cheering her on just as much as we were. Students from other schools, too.”

When Darby joined the speech team as a ninth-grader, public speaking was not something she was comfortable with.

“Back then I was nervous to talk in front of one person,” she said. “It’s really fun to go all over and perform and make friends. It’s fun to find out what you’re good at and having public speaking skills is important, having connections, and making people laugh is my thing. And dressing up is pretty fun, too.”

She will be joined at state by three teammates: seniors Cade Kuznia in Extemporaneous Speaking and Julia Anderson in Original Oratory and junior Ash Grosshuesch in discussion. Cade finished fifth at state last year and Ash placed fourth.

There are 13 categories in high school speech, including Creative Expression, Informative Speaking, Storytelling and more.

After the section meet, Hystad wrote about what took place. Alongside a photo of Darby after the subsection meet, Annette wrote, “Do you see the young lady in the middle, the one with tears in her eyes? Those tears aren’t just about sadness — they hold a whole season of grit, laughter, passion, and hope -- it's the weight of a journey filled with hard work, leadership, and unshakable dedication.

“This is what it means to be extraordinary. Not because of a trophy or a title — but because of the courage to keep showing up. The heart to lift others even when you’re hurting. And the strength to be ready when no one’s watching — so when the door opens, even for a second, you’re brave enough to walk through it.

“She reminded me that sometimes the most powerful stories come not from the spotlight, but from the moments when everything falls apart … and we choose to rise anyway.”

On Friday, Darby will make her presentation in the first three rounds at 10:15 a.m., 11:45 a.m. and 1:15 p.m. The finals will be held at 3:30 and awards are scheduled for 5:30.

It just might be another exciting day.

--The Class A state speech tournament will be held Friday and Class 2A will compete Saturday. More information is available here: https://www.mshsl.org/about/news/tournament-news/speech-state-tournament-2025-key-things-know

--MSHSL staff member John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Bluesky at johnmilleamn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at [email protected] or [email protected]