Maddy Schumacher’s third-place finish in Discussion at last week’s Class A state meet was so very well-earned.
Schumacher — one of five Tracy Area High School students who advanced to state at Wayzata High School — defeated last year’s Discussion champ en route to her big finish.
“It was pretty awesome, Schumacher said. “At speech camp, my coach coached a state champion, so I knew what I had to do. Also, if you get to be a state champion, they say it’s really hard for you the next year because everyone knows you’re the champion.”
Schumacher, a senior, is proud of her third-place finish, in part because in Discussion, competitors have no idea going in what the judges are looking for.
“I had five judges that ranked me — 1 through 8 — 8, 7, 1, 4, 1,” she said. So I had two judges who thought I was the best out of that round and one judge who must’ve thought I was pretty bad. It happens all the time, especially at state finals where it’s all over the board.”
See this week’s Headlight-Herald for more on this article.