Apple Valley, Moorhead and Roseville Area high schools each won two gold medals in the 2018 Class AA Minnesota State Speech Tournament. In Class A, Mounds Park Academy, a private school with 500 students in kindergarten-12th grade, also won two gold medals.

The tournament was held Friday and Saturday at Apple Valley High School.

In Class AA, only one returning gold medalist, Izzy Larson of Moorhead, won again. She won the 2018 gold medal in "Serious Interpretation of Poetry." The gold was one of Larson's four medals this year. In 2016 and 2017, she and Devon Solwold won gold in "Duo Interpretation."

Seven other schools won one gold medal apiece. The Class AA champions were:

Campbell Bernstein of Apple Valley's Eastview in "Creative Expression"; Joe Anderson of Elk River in "Discussion"; Vakare Bartkaitis and Kellin Robinson of Roseville Area in "Duo Interpretation"; Sam Roach of Mankato West in "Extemporaneous Reading"; Aaron Lutz of Eagan in "Extemporaneous Speaking"; Sophie Hermann of Benilde-St. Margaret's of St. Louis Park in "Great Speeches"; Sam Sweere of Lakeville North in "Humorous Interpretation"; Trinity Ek of Apple Valley in "Informative Speaking"; Halima Badri of Apple Valley in "Original Oratory"; Kaden Moszer of Moorhead in "Serious Interpretation of Drama"; Izzy Larson of Moorhead in "Serious Interpretation of Poetry"; Jason Sobieck of Roseville Area in "Serious Interpretation of Prose," and Josiah Chock of Chaska in "Storytelling."

In Class A, Cannon Falls won its third consecutive team championship with seven medalists and 41 points. Mounds Park Academy also had a total of seven medalists.

Two of the six returning champions repeated their gold-medal wins. Pranay Somayajula of Mounds Park Academy won gold in "Extemporaneous Speaking," and Ellie Hansen of Walker-Hackensack-Akeley won gold in "Duo Interpretation" with Emma Burpo. Hansen won in "Original Oratory" last year.

Eleven other schools won one gold medal each this year in Class A. The other 2018 champions were:

Chad Fleischhacker of Rush City in "Creative Expression"; Maia Bowman of East Grand Forks in "Discussion"; Brenndan Walton of Stewartville in "Extemporaneous Reading"; Sarah Ley of Mounds Park Academy in "Great Speeches"; Hope Danzl of Melrose Area in "Humorous Interpretation"; Kaitlyn Vogel of River Valley, a co-op between Sleepy Eye, Sleepy Eye St. Mary's and Springfield, in "Informative Speaking"; Sarah Best of Waterville-Elysian-Morristown in "Original Oratory"; Jordan Peterson of New London-Spicer in "Serious Interpretation of Drama"; Hannah Singewald of Cannon Falls in "Serious Interpretation of Poetry"; Evelyn Humphrey of Kenyon-Wanamingo in "Serious Interpretation of Prose," and Landon Javens of Mankato Loyola in "Storytelling."

There were 65 Class AA and 101 Class A teams represented in the tournament. Full results can be found at https://www.mshsl.org.