Local schools do well in state speech contest

[November 07, 2011]  The last weekend in October was a busy time for Logan County junior high speech teams. They performed well, and two schools received the coveted Judges' Choice Award at the state-level speech competition in the Illinois Elementary School Association. Most area schools are in Area 17 and competed on Oct. 29 at Buffalo Tri-City. Hartem is in Area 14 and competed on Oct. 28 at Heyworth.

Zion Lutheran School's 12 speech team entries received the highest No. 1 rating in the IESA speech contest. Performers and their entries were Claire Conrady and Kalyn Roberts, improv duet; Joel Robison and Braydon Simpson, improv duet; Ashlan Broom, Emma Cooper and Gabi Cox in small group acting; Ethan Goodey and Drew Simmer, duet acting; Joe Ahrends, individual impromptu; Lauren Canady and Tori Tripplett, duet acting; Danielle Burgrabe and Sydney Johnson, duet acting; Lauren Canady and Kathryn Nobbe, improv duet; Joe Ahrends, Garret Olson, Joel Robison and Ben Steiner in small group acting; Emma Ritterbush and Kalyn Roberts, duet acting; Joe Ahrends and Ben Steiner, improv duet; and Danielle Burgrabe, Claire Conrady, Sydney Johnson and Kalyn Roberts in small group acting.

Autum Robison, Karen Burgrabe and Marty Ahrends coach the ZLS speech team.

Judges' Choice Award recipients for Zion were Sydney Johnson and Danielle Burgrabe for their duet performance of "It's A Dog's Life"; Ashlan Broom, Gabi Cox and Emma Cooper, who performed "Friends Forever"; and Joe Ahrends, Garret Olson, Joel Robison and Ben Steiner with "A Little Breezy Below."

A picture of the Zion Lutheran School speech team can be seen in Thursday's edition of Lincoln Daily News.

Chester-East Lincoln has six members on its speech team, and four were available for the contest. Eighth-grade students Jean Lolling and Keely Lineback had two entries. This was Keely's second year in speech and Jean's first. The girls performed a duet called "Daddy's Not Coming Home Tonight" and received a second place. Their next entry was an improv duet, for which they received first place.

The seventh-grade students, Kathryn Hoefs and Carson Rickord, are in their first year of speech. They also performed an improv duet and received a second place. Their next duet was titled "Get Real," and they scored a second place for that entry.

Mount Pulaski Grade School sent 21 speech team members to the competition. Their performances and placements were:

• Faith Doerr and Olivia Letterle, duet, first place.

• Corey Beccue and Jordan Beck, duet, first place.

• Elizabeth Siebert, Max Coppinger, Morgan Hayes and Nate Dyer, group, first place. Bayley Holmes, Emily Wakeman and Marlena Smith-Leckrone, group, first place. Ashley Berry, Abby Howard and Emma Schoth, group, first.

• Katie Fairchild and Miranda Hilliard, duet, second place.

• Peyton Taylor and Emily Fielden, duet, second place.

• Jade Stewart and Shelby Bailey, duet, third place.

• Toaha Boyer and Ashley Berry, duet, third place.

Barb Maske is the speech coach for the Mount Pulaski team.

West Lincoln-Broadwell had two speech team members at Buffalo Tri-City. Joshua Henderson and Jacob Konczyk performed a duet improv and received first place; their duet script received second place.

Lincoln Junior High School speech team received two Judges' Choice awards:

• Regular duet acting -- "A Fine Line," performed by Samantha Johnson and Megan Snodgrass; and "Holy Tators, Kemosabee! It's Holmes!" by Zac McCray and Alyssa Zimmer.

• Small group acting -- "Rough It, Honey!" by Allison Bone, Darria Campbell, Regan Dahm, Lanae Laubenstein and Rachel Stein.

Hartem was represented by three young ladies who were first-time participants. Ashley Zinser, a seventh-grader, and Alyson Dunse and Emma Moats, both eighth-graders, performed a group skit, "Friends Forever," and received first place.

Alice Doehring is their speech coach.

[By MARLA BLAIR]