The speech team attended the LaPorte High School Speech Invitational and placed third in the novice/varsity tournament. Seventeen schools and more than 240 entries competed in four straight rounds of competition.

CHS had two tournament champions; the senior team of Kaylee Oates and Sharon Coleman won memorized duo and junior Layla Mooradian tied for first in declamation.

The three varsity champions also placed in second events with Mooradian and Coleman fifth and sixth, respectively, in oratory and Oates eighth in humor.

Others placing in two events at the varsity level included senior Jennifer Kattalia, who was third in oratory and fourth in drama; senior Spencer Gordon, who was second in international extemporaneous speaking and fifth in impromptu; and senior Aliyah Caraballo, who was sixth in prose and eighth in impromptu.

Also in the varsity division junior Jami Ritchea took second place in humor, followed by sophomore Lauren Hogan in fifth and junior Danny Vincent in seventh. Hogan also placed sixth in impromptu. In drama senior Rachel Kidder placed second.

At the novice level sophomores Sami Goldberg and Molly Baeza were fifth in memorized duo. Baeza also placed fifth in prose and Goldberg finished in sixth in drama. In novice broadcasting junior Max Brown was fifth and freshman Sam Gordon was sixth. Junior Justyn Lantz placed seventh in novice humor, and freshman Grant Schuster was seventh in declamation.

"It's difficult to assess tournament results when there is no final round; there always so many ties - some of them unbreakable. But we definitely have a number of students showing significant progress," said Coach Bob Kelly.

In team sweepstakes Munster High School took top honors with Culver Academies placing second. Following Chesterton in third was Ft. Wayne Carroll in fourth and Elkhart Central in fifth.

Coaches Bob Kelly, Doug Pishkur, Kirsten Reed, and assistant coach Eric Schaefer accompanied the team. Also judging for CHS was former student Jessica Cleary, and parents Toya Garcia and Marcia Ritchea. The team is off for the holiday weekend and will compete next at Valparaiso on December 1.

Posted 11/20/2012