On Oct. 13, Port Angeles resident Leilani Wood matched wits with other public speaking enthusiasts to come out on top in an extemporaneous speech contest.

The event was Toastmasters Tall Tales and Table Topics Contest for Division B of District 32. Division B stretches from Port Angeles to Gig Harbor and comprises 16 clubs. Wood is a member of Port Angeles Toastmasters that meets Mondays, 7-8:30 p.m., at the Clallam Transit Office Building.

Wood and the other contestants made it through two previous rounds of contests, the first at their clubs, the second at the area level. Each of the four table topics contestants entered the room one at a time to hear the topic question for the first time. Each had one to two minutes to speak to the question: “Vanilla or chocolate?” As a horticulturalist, Wood called upon her knowledge of both the cacao tree and the vanilla orchid to respond. Her brief but humorous and fact-packed talk won the votes of the judges, all fellow Toastmasters.

Other Toastmasters, one from each of four areas within Division B, also competed in Tall Tales. Elena Brenna, resident of Port Ludlow, won that contest.