BLACKDUCK DRAKES SPEECH 2025/2026
SAVING THE BEST FOR LAST:
ABBY MACKEY IS SPEAKER OF THE WEEK
Senior Team Captain Abby Mackey is this week’s BHS Drakes Speaker of the Week.
Abby has been on the speech team since she was in eighth grade and has competed in
three categories during that time: Drama, Prose, and Duo. As our top Prose Speaker in
her junior year and this year, out top Drama, Abby has had great competitive success,
earning four tournament championships during her senior season, along with one silver
medal, and one bronze. Her performance of, “The Prayer,” by Amanda Sloan, moved
audiences to tears throughout the season, with her heart wrenching portrayal of a
Christian mother whose children are killed by a drunk driver and her struggle to
overcome the tragedy and regain her trust in God. Abby is such a beautiful performer
that she never failed to cause a stir.
Far beyond her talent and her competitive success, however, is Abby’s dedication to her
team. She is an outstanding leader who never puts herself above her teammates. She
mentors the younger speakers and serves as a sounding board for them with kindness
and compassion. Abby has that rare ability in a competitor, managing to win with
humility, and lose with grace.
Abby has been one of the best speakers the coaches have ever worked with, because
she accepts constructive criticism and works hard to adjust as each new critique of the
season gave her more things to work on. She never complained about the changes
we’ve asked her to make; she just worked harder each time.
Thank you, Abby, for your leadership and your dependability, and for the joy and
passion you brought to your coaches and teammates!
ABBY MACKEY IS SPEAKER OF THE WEEK
Senior Team Captain Abby Mackey is this week’s BHS Drakes Speaker of the Week.
Abby has been on the speech team since she was in eighth grade and has competed in
three categories during that time: Drama, Prose, and Duo. As our top Prose Speaker in
her junior year and this year, out top Drama, Abby has had great competitive success,
earning four tournament championships during her senior season, along with one silver
medal, and one bronze. Her performance of, “The Prayer,” by Amanda Sloan, moved
audiences to tears throughout the season, with her heart wrenching portrayal of a
Christian mother whose children are killed by a drunk driver and her struggle to
overcome the tragedy and regain her trust in God. Abby is such a beautiful performer
that she never failed to cause a stir.
Far beyond her talent and her competitive success, however, is Abby’s dedication to her
team. She is an outstanding leader who never puts herself above her teammates. She
mentors the younger speakers and serves as a sounding board for them with kindness
and compassion. Abby has that rare ability in a competitor, managing to win with
humility, and lose with grace.
Abby has been one of the best speakers the coaches have ever worked with, because
she accepts constructive criticism and works hard to adjust as each new critique of the
season gave her more things to work on. She never complained about the changes
we’ve asked her to make; she just worked harder each time.
Thank you, Abby, for your leadership and your dependability, and for the joy and
passion you brought to your coaches and teammates!
Past Speakers of the Week
TEN DRAKES SPEAKERS ADVANCE TO THE SECTION TOURNAMENT
The Blackduck Drakes advance 10 of 13 speakers to the Section 8A Tournament on April 14th with a great showing at the Subsection Tournament in Cass Lake on March 31st . Three of them brought home the Subsection Championship, including Abby Mackey in Serious Interpretation of Drama, and Cora Lien and Hailey Haberle in Duo Interpretation.
The top four in each of the MSHSL 13 categories earn their spot in the Section meet. Advancing for the Drakes in third place are Freyja Herzog in Discussion and Shiloh Steele in Original Oratory. Advancing in fourth place are Emma Grove in Creative Expression, Maci Dufseth in Discussion, and Maximus Norris in Serious Drama. Subsection 29A is the largest of the three subsections in Section 8A, so some 29A speakers get the opportunity to advance to fill shortages in other subsections, so
two Blackduck speakers who placed sixth will also advance to the Section Tournament: Anna Nolden in Serious Interpretation of Prose and Kate Porter in Extemporaneous Reading.
The Drakes Speech Coaches: Head Coach Annie Cheney and Assistant Coaches Jennifer Parker, Charles Biberg, and Kim Coborn, are excited about this young team and their prospects for success. The top three speakers in each category will advance to the MSHSL State Tournament on April 24th and 25th in the Twin Cities.
The Blackduck Drakes advance 10 of 13 speakers to the Section 8A Tournament on April 14th with a great showing at the Subsection Tournament in Cass Lake on March 31st . Three of them brought home the Subsection Championship, including Abby Mackey in Serious Interpretation of Drama, and Cora Lien and Hailey Haberle in Duo Interpretation.
The top four in each of the MSHSL 13 categories earn their spot in the Section meet. Advancing for the Drakes in third place are Freyja Herzog in Discussion and Shiloh Steele in Original Oratory. Advancing in fourth place are Emma Grove in Creative Expression, Maci Dufseth in Discussion, and Maximus Norris in Serious Drama. Subsection 29A is the largest of the three subsections in Section 8A, so some 29A speakers get the opportunity to advance to fill shortages in other subsections, so
two Blackduck speakers who placed sixth will also advance to the Section Tournament: Anna Nolden in Serious Interpretation of Prose and Kate Porter in Extemporaneous Reading.
The Drakes Speech Coaches: Head Coach Annie Cheney and Assistant Coaches Jennifer Parker, Charles Biberg, and Kim Coborn, are excited about this young team and their prospects for success. The top three speakers in each category will advance to the MSHSL State Tournament on April 24th and 25th in the Twin Cities.
DRAKES HAVE TEN WINNERS IN HOME TOURNAMENT
The Blackduck Drakes Speech Team hosted the 15 th Annual Drakes Speech Challenge
on March 21st , hosting 16 teams in a fun and competitive tournament. The Blackduck
Tournament is known to be the “fun” meet, with a “ducking” tradition that gets speakers
from different teams to mix together and collect tiny ducks to win prizes at the end of the day. Hailey Haberle and Cora Lien won the tournament championship in Duo Interpretation. Earning the silver medal were Freyja Herzog in Discussion, Abby Mackey in Interpretation of Drama and Shiloh Steele in Original Oratory. Taking 5 th place were Maci Dufseth in Discussion and Alyssa Camacho in Informative Speaking. Anna Nolden
placed 6th in Serious Interpretation of Prose. Earning Honorable Mention awards were
Emma Grover in Creative Expression and James Spencer in Informative Speaking.
The Blackduck Drakes Speech Team hosted the 15 th Annual Drakes Speech Challenge
on March 21st , hosting 16 teams in a fun and competitive tournament. The Blackduck
Tournament is known to be the “fun” meet, with a “ducking” tradition that gets speakers
from different teams to mix together and collect tiny ducks to win prizes at the end of the day. Hailey Haberle and Cora Lien won the tournament championship in Duo Interpretation. Earning the silver medal were Freyja Herzog in Discussion, Abby Mackey in Interpretation of Drama and Shiloh Steele in Original Oratory. Taking 5 th place were Maci Dufseth in Discussion and Alyssa Camacho in Informative Speaking. Anna Nolden
placed 6th in Serious Interpretation of Prose. Earning Honorable Mention awards were
Emma Grover in Creative Expression and James Spencer in Informative Speaking.
TOUGH DAY FOR THE DRAKES SPEAKERS IN HERMANTOWN
The Blackduck Drakes Speech Team made the long trek to Hermantown High School
on March 14 th , where the competition was large and difficult, still, not too difficult for
Freyja Herzog who earned the tournament championship in the category of Discussion
against 22 competitors, half of which represented AA schools! Three Drakes speakers
earned Honorable Mention Awards: Abby Mackey in Serious Drama, Alyssa Camacho
in Informative Speaking, and Anna Nolden in Serious Prose. Former Blackduck
speaker, Olivia Miettinen, now competing for Cass Lake-Bena, took home the third-
place medal in Great Speeches.
Next Saturday, the Blackduck Drakes will host the Annual Drakes Challenge Varsity
Tournament, and next compete at Duluth Marshall to end the regular season before
moving into the post-season.
DRAKES PLACE WELL IN SUBSECTON SPEECH PREVIEW TOURNAMENT
The Laporte Wildcats hosted a Subsection 29A Preview Tournament on February 21 st ,
to give the six teams in the subsection a chance to see who they will have to face in the
post season in late March and April. In addition to Blackduck and Laporte, teams
competed for Walker, Park Rapids, Cass Lake-Bena, and Fosston/Bagley.
Fosston/Bagley steamrolled everyone for a first-place finish.
Blackduck ended up in fourth, although the points were tight for second-fourth between us, Walker, and Laporte.
More importantly, individual Drakes Speakers performed very well and brought home an
array of awards from the day. Blackduck had three champions: Abby Mackey in serious
Drama, and Cora Lien and Hailey Haberle in Duo Interpretation. Freyja Herzog tied for
first in Discussion but ended up in second place on a tie-breaking procedure. Emma
Grover and Alyssa Camacho each won their first varsity medals, with Emma placing
second in Creative Expression and Alyssa placing second in Informative Speaking.
Maci Dufseth took the bronze in Discussion, right behind Freyja. Shiloh Steele finished
fourth in Original Oratory and Anna Nolden placed fourth in Prose. In 5th place were Max Norris in Drama and Addi Bradseth in Informative Speaking. James Spencer placed
sixth in Informative and Alaina Reiplinger took sixth in Creative Expression.
Keep up the amazing work Drakes! Onward and upward!
The Laporte Wildcats hosted a Subsection 29A Preview Tournament on February 21 st ,
to give the six teams in the subsection a chance to see who they will have to face in the
post season in late March and April. In addition to Blackduck and Laporte, teams
competed for Walker, Park Rapids, Cass Lake-Bena, and Fosston/Bagley.
Fosston/Bagley steamrolled everyone for a first-place finish.
Blackduck ended up in fourth, although the points were tight for second-fourth between us, Walker, and Laporte.
More importantly, individual Drakes Speakers performed very well and brought home an
array of awards from the day. Blackduck had three champions: Abby Mackey in serious
Drama, and Cora Lien and Hailey Haberle in Duo Interpretation. Freyja Herzog tied for
first in Discussion but ended up in second place on a tie-breaking procedure. Emma
Grover and Alyssa Camacho each won their first varsity medals, with Emma placing
second in Creative Expression and Alyssa placing second in Informative Speaking.
Maci Dufseth took the bronze in Discussion, right behind Freyja. Shiloh Steele finished
fourth in Original Oratory and Anna Nolden placed fourth in Prose. In 5th place were Max Norris in Drama and Addi Bradseth in Informative Speaking. James Spencer placed
sixth in Informative and Alaina Reiplinger took sixth in Creative Expression.
Keep up the amazing work Drakes! Onward and upward!
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DRAKES PERFORM WELL AT HUGE DETROIT LAKES TOURNAMENT
The Drakes traveled to Detroit Lakes for the Loquacious Lakers Tournament made up of
26 teams and nearly 400 speakers. The Blackduck team, consisting of just 11 members on the day—all of them in grades 7 through 9, pulled off a 16th place finish against all odds!
Maci Dufseth earned an award for excellence in the category of Discussion and Freyja
Herzog placed 6th in Discussion. The Duo Team of Hailey Haberle and Cora Lien received the 6th place award in Duo Interpretation. Former Drakes Speaker, now competing for the Cass Lake-Bena Panthers placed 5 th in Great Speeches!
The Drakes traveled to Detroit Lakes for the Loquacious Lakers Tournament made up of
26 teams and nearly 400 speakers. The Blackduck team, consisting of just 11 members on the day—all of them in grades 7 through 9, pulled off a 16th place finish against all odds!
Maci Dufseth earned an award for excellence in the category of Discussion and Freyja
Herzog placed 6th in Discussion. The Duo Team of Hailey Haberle and Cora Lien received the 6th place award in Duo Interpretation. Former Drakes Speaker, now competing for the Cass Lake-Bena Panthers placed 5 th in Great Speeches!
DRAKES SPEAKERS BRING HOME HARDWARE FROM DGF TOURNAMENT
The Blackduck Drakes Speech Team travelled to Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton High School on February 7th to compete against more than 350 speakers from 22 schools. Freyja Herzog won the tournament championship in Discussion with her teammate Maci Dufseth bringing home the 5 th place medal in the same category. Three Blackduck Speakers earned ribbons for Superior Performance: Abby Mackey in Serious Interpretation of Drama, and Hailey Haberle and Cora Lien in Duo Interpretation. Shiloh Steele earned a Ribbon for Excellence in Original Oratory. The majority of the team finished in the top half of the competitors in their categories,
and the outlook is excellent as we continue our 2026 season!
The Blackduck Drakes Speech Team travelled to Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton High School on February 7th to compete against more than 350 speakers from 22 schools. Freyja Herzog won the tournament championship in Discussion with her teammate Maci Dufseth bringing home the 5 th place medal in the same category. Three Blackduck Speakers earned ribbons for Superior Performance: Abby Mackey in Serious Interpretation of Drama, and Hailey Haberle and Cora Lien in Duo Interpretation. Shiloh Steele earned a Ribbon for Excellence in Original Oratory. The majority of the team finished in the top half of the competitors in their categories,
and the outlook is excellent as we continue our 2026 season!
Drakes Speakers earn awards at Early Tournaments!
The Blackduck Drakes Varsity Speech Team earned several awards in the first two tournaments of the 2026 season in Cass Lake-Bena on January 17th and in Pequot Lakes on January 24th. At the CL-B Panthers Tournament, Maci Dufseth earned an 8th place finish in Discussion. Shiloh Steele placed 4th in Original Oratory and Freyja Herzog finished in 4th place in Discussion.
Results got even better in Pequot Lakes as the Eagles hosted a larger tournament and the Drakes had even more success in the first tournament of the season with Finals! The Drakes had one speaker in Honor Final, Maci Dufseth, who placed 4th in Discussion. Four Blackduck Speakers earned a spot in the prestigious Eagles Final Round, with Cora Lien and Hailey Haberle placing 6th in Duo Interpretation, Abby Mackey placing 4th in Dramatic Interpretation, and Freyja Herzog taking 4th place in Discussion. Former Drakes Speaker, Olivia Miettinen, now competing for Cass Lake, placed 3rd in Great Speeches!
Congratulations to the Blackduck Drakes Speech Team, and best of luck as the season continues!
The Blackduck Drakes Varsity Speech Team earned several awards in the first two tournaments of the 2026 season in Cass Lake-Bena on January 17th and in Pequot Lakes on January 24th. At the CL-B Panthers Tournament, Maci Dufseth earned an 8th place finish in Discussion. Shiloh Steele placed 4th in Original Oratory and Freyja Herzog finished in 4th place in Discussion.
Results got even better in Pequot Lakes as the Eagles hosted a larger tournament and the Drakes had even more success in the first tournament of the season with Finals! The Drakes had one speaker in Honor Final, Maci Dufseth, who placed 4th in Discussion. Four Blackduck Speakers earned a spot in the prestigious Eagles Final Round, with Cora Lien and Hailey Haberle placing 6th in Duo Interpretation, Abby Mackey placing 4th in Dramatic Interpretation, and Freyja Herzog taking 4th place in Discussion. Former Drakes Speaker, Olivia Miettinen, now competing for Cass Lake, placed 3rd in Great Speeches!
Congratulations to the Blackduck Drakes Speech Team, and best of luck as the season continues!