Carlson earns speech title at state tourney
Owatonna senior Kinzie Carlson smiles as she has her state champion medal placed around her neck. Carlson won her individual state title in the discussion event after placing first in the section tournament as well. Submitted photo
Owatonna discussion competitor Kinzie Carlson voiced her way to a state title by capturing first place in the discussion event.
Carlson was one of three Owatonna speech team members to qualify for the state tournament after sections, and one of two to place in the top five.
“They start from the bottom to the top with the awards and as we were going through the names from 10th to first, when I didn’t hear my name called early, I kept thinking like, ‘Oh, well I’m not in the last few. That’s exciting.’ Last year we had someone finish fourth, so I wanted to reach that mark. Then they just kept reading names until they got to second place and that’s when it hit me like, ‘Oh my gosh, I got first or second,’” said Carlson.
When the ceremony speaker did not announce her name for second place is when the real whirlwind started for Carlson.
“I was just in shock. There are photos of me like staring up at my team in shock,” she said. “I went up there and received my award, but it wasn’t until like 15 minutes later when I was in the car with my grandmother that it really hit me like, ‘Wow, I just did that.’ That’s when I started getting emotional.”
Carlson’s title at the state tournament came after three preliminary rounds of discussion and a final round where each team is given 60 minutes to go through a certain prompt.
According to Carlson, the moment in the spotlight of the state tournament had a different feel to it than any other discussion event she had competed in previously.
“Typically, there is only one judge in a preliminary round and then three judges for a final round at any given meet. This time it was different. There were eight discussants when there are typically only five to six, and there were five judges with a crowd of people sitting behind them. It was a little intimidating, but it went really well.”
The final round topic where Carlson made her case for the state title was regarding coral reef preservation and how a non-profit would go about handling the situation.
Carlson and teammate Elijah Leon – who placed fourth – felt confident about their points and made a case for their positions, despite facing a field of competitors who had different strategies for the discussion.
According to Carlson, many of the metro-area competitors have backgrounds in debate as well, which Owatonna does not offer.
This can result in competitors taking a different stance to a discussion, treating the discourse in more of an argument-debate manner.
However, Carlson did not let the differences disrupt her, and instead, it was the senior’s year to etch her name into the Owatonna High School record books.
When asked how she celebrated the win, Carlson laughingly said, “My Grandma and I went out for some celebratory chicken sandwiches.”