The Chesterton High
School Speech team finished in third place at the Culver Academies Speech
Invitational this past weekend. Nine schools with nearly 200 entries
competed in the combined novice/varsity tournament. CHS had six tournament
champions. Despite having an entry half the size of the top two schools, the
team’s performance was commendable.
Leading the varsity
division for the second consecutive week were sophomores Anna Leady and AJ
Stirling. Stirling was the tournament champion in programmed oral
interpretation and finished fourth in dramatic interpretation. Leady, for
the second time this year, won original oratory. She also placed right
behind Stirling in drama in fifth place.
Sophomore Max
Winski also placed in two events, with a fourth place finish in broadcasting
and a fifth in humorous interpretation. Fellow sophomore Indigo Loving also
placed in two events with a sixth in humor and a seventh in memorized duo,
with his partner sophomore Anekah Fish.
Others placing in
the varsity division included seniors Paige Donovan and Leaha Estes, seventh
and eighth, respectively, in dramatic interpretation. In addition, sophomore
Steve Skelton was third in original performance.
The novices had a
good day as well with four tournament champions. In original oratory
freshman Anna Sanders was the tournament champ and in informative speaking
freshman Rebecca Mueller took top honors. Freshman Mei Pantuso won
programmed oral interpretation and freshman Lily Roberts won dramatic
interpretation.
Freshman Abby
Wilcox finished right behind Sanders in oratory with a second place finish,
and sophomore Janet (Rosie) Portelli placed third in prose. Freshman Sanjana
Raj had another strong showing in poetry, placing third, and freshman Paul
Kennedy finished third in discussion.
”We were pleased
with the fact that all of our 19 entries placed and we finished as strongly
as we did. The novices really performed well today with four tournament
champions,” said Coach Becky Uehling.
Chesterton placed
third behind first place Culver Academies and second place Plymouth High
School. Bethany Christian finished in fourth place followed by Oak Hill in
fifth.
Coach Uehling was
joined by judges Claire Mueller, Diane Zielinski, Jim Vincent, and Michael
Fish.