Paola High School junior Natalie Scroggie gets in the face of senior Chris Yackle during their performance of “Jerry Finnegan’s Sister” at the annual forensics night last week. Scroggie and Yackle placed first at the Class 4A State Forensics Championships in duet acting Saturday. (Catherine Odson / catherineodson@miconews.com)
Join our Mailing List!
Please click the link below to sign up for your community paper mailing list. Stay up to date with all the events going on in your community as well as the latest news.Sign Up Today!
Forensics duo triumphs at state championship
By Catherine Odson, catherineodson@miconews.com
The state forensics championship was a blur for first-time competitors Natalie Scroggie and Chris Yackle, but the duo came out clearly on top at the end of Saturday’s competition.
Scroggie, a junior, and Yackle, a senior, placed first in duet acting for Paola High School in the Class 4A State Forensics Championships.
The duo aimed to reach the finals with their piece, “Jerry Finnigan’s Sister.”
“We weren’t expecting it all,” Yackle said. “… We didn’t think it was a strong enough piece.”
Scroggie and Yackle triumphed in three preliminary rounds and the semifinals to reach the finals. They were in first place all day, adviser Leslie Coats said.
Paola High School placed fourth overall, extending a streak of top-five finishes that dates back to 1985.
Each of Paola’s entries gave the team score a boost, Coats said.
“Everybody managed to pull at least one good, solid score to help us out team-wise in the tournament,” she said.
PHS had finalists in four other events. Rachel Gabrielse (informative speaking) and Spencer Lickteig (serious solo acting) placed third. Jesse Lopez was fifth in oration, and the duo of Lindsey Jarvis and Spencer Lickteig was sixth in improvisational duet acting.
Four events also reached the semifinals at the tournament: Bridget Kennedy, prose; Rachel Gabrielse, poetry; Delaney McCormack, serious solo acting; and Marcus Tetwiler and Alex Weatherbie, improvisational duet acting.
Brandon Blackman, Hannah Dussold, Mariah Keller, Hannah Ozier and Zac Petersen also contributed points at the championships.
PHS competed against 51 other schools. The tournament had 740 entries.
The Class 4A tournament is the largest size-wise, Coats said, but state in itself has a higher level of competition.
“Everybody who is there qualified to get there,” Coats said. “It’s not just as if they walked in off the street. There’s a level of pressure that they’re aware of.”
PHS placed fourth with 245 points, just behind third-place Fort Scott, which had 251.
Tonganoxie won the tournament with 308 points, and Buhler was second with 268.
printable version
e-mail this story
Scroggie, a junior, and Yackle, a senior, placed first in duet acting for Paola High School in the Class 4A State Forensics Championships.
The duo aimed to reach the finals with their piece, “Jerry Finnigan’s Sister.”
“We weren’t expecting it all,” Yackle said. “… We didn’t think it was a strong enough piece.”
Scroggie and Yackle triumphed in three preliminary rounds and the semifinals to reach the finals. They were in first place all day, adviser Leslie Coats said.
Paola High School placed fourth overall, extending a streak of top-five finishes that dates back to 1985.
Each of Paola’s entries gave the team score a boost, Coats said.
“Everybody managed to pull at least one good, solid score to help us out team-wise in the tournament,” she said.
PHS had finalists in four other events. Rachel Gabrielse (informative speaking) and Spencer Lickteig (serious solo acting) placed third. Jesse Lopez was fifth in oration, and the duo of Lindsey Jarvis and Spencer Lickteig was sixth in improvisational duet acting.
Four events also reached the semifinals at the tournament: Bridget Kennedy, prose; Rachel Gabrielse, poetry; Delaney McCormack, serious solo acting; and Marcus Tetwiler and Alex Weatherbie, improvisational duet acting.
Brandon Blackman, Hannah Dussold, Mariah Keller, Hannah Ozier and Zac Petersen also contributed points at the championships.
PHS competed against 51 other schools. The tournament had 740 entries.
The Class 4A tournament is the largest size-wise, Coats said, but state in itself has a higher level of competition.
“Everybody who is there qualified to get there,” Coats said. “It’s not just as if they walked in off the street. There’s a level of pressure that they’re aware of.”
PHS placed fourth with 245 points, just behind third-place Fort Scott, which had 251.
Tonganoxie won the tournament with 308 points, and Buhler was second with 268.