Speech State Tournament 2025: Key things to know

Schedule: Three preliminary rounds in all 13 events are scheduled for 10:15 a.m., 11:45 a.m. and 1:15 p.m. both days. The championship rounds are at 3:30 p.m., followed by the awards ceremonies at 5:30 p.m. Registration begins at 9 a.m. 

Class AA teams to watch: Moorhead has won eight consecutive Class AA team championships and brings a state-high 27 participants to this year’s tournament. Eagan, which tied for the first team title with Moorhead in 2016, has 24 participants. Wayzata (16), Cambridge-Isanti (13) Rochester John Marshall (13) and Eastview (11) also have double-digit participants. 

Class A teams to watch: Two-time defending champion Mounds Park Academy leads Class A with 20 participants. Russell-Tyler-Ruthton (15), Fairmont (14), Melrose Area (12) and Cannon Falls (10) round out the top five. 

Class AA returning champions: Eastview’s Sahiti Atluri is aiming for her third Creative Expression title. Teammate Maxwell Espena returns in Duo Interpretation after winning with Arkhya Arikkath last year. He’s teaming up with Nina Galindez this spring. Reigning team champion Moorhead has a pair of returning gold medalists in Eleanor Culloton (Informative Speaking) and Evan Froslie (Storytelling). St. Cloud Tech’s Extemporaneous Reading champion Emerie Schraw is back in the field. And Anoka’s Isaac Stokes is competing in Serious Interpretation of Drama after he was victorious in Humorous Interpretation a year ago. 

Class A returning champions: Fairmont’s Leon Yang (Humorous Interpretation) and Alayna Haefner (Original Oratory) seek to repeat, as do Zachary Dietz of Morris Area in Discussion, Claire Woller of Minnesota Valley Lutheran in Extemporaneous Reading and Paul Fertig of defending team champion Mounds Park Academy in Extemporaneous Speaking. Also in the field are a pair of 2023 winners: Chatfield/Perpich’s Rebecca Copeman in Humorous Interpretation and Mounds Park Academy’s Rowan Mulrooney, who previously won in Informative Speaking and is participating this year in Great Speeches. 

Hitting home: Copeman’s selection in Humorous Interpretation, AI Speech Bot was written by Forrest Musselman, the Rushford-Peterson teacher, director, playwright, One Act Play judge and assistant speech coach who this year was selected NFHS Outstanding Theatre Educator for Minnesota. Musselman is serving as a Room Manager during the tournament this weekend. 

Centennial celebration: The National Speech & Debate Association is commemorating its 100th anniversary in 2025 with an ongoing belief that “a speech and debate program in every school creates a better civil society.” The MSHSL, with its own proud speech and debate history, agrees. Here are some Minnesota stories and fun facts to celebrate. 

Live streaming: NSPN.tv will provide complimentary streaming of the awards ceremonies, beginning at 5:30 p.m. both days.