Sylvan Lucas Unified’s Speech and Drama Team captured the state championship after competing with 35 other schools at the 1A State Championship in Hutchinson on Saturday, May 6th. The Sylvan squad finished the day with 350 points; Pretty Prairie came in second with 285 points and South Central High School was third with 274 points.
Teams earn points based on the ranking of individual performances. After each round, every team member’s performance points are added for the team score. To qualify for the championship, students had to place first or second at an invitational tournament throughout the regular season, which began in January.
The squad qualified 20 events for the championship but each school is limited to 16. Of those 16 championship entries, Sylvan advanced 13 to the semi-finals after three rounds of preliminaries. After the semis, 10 entries advanced to the final round.
Two individual team members were also crowned state champions in their events. Keeli Knobbe (senior) took first in Humorous Solo and Sydney Heller (junior) is the champion in Original Oration.
Other team medalists were Molly Heller (second in Serious Solo and third in Informative Speaking); Addie Wallace (third in Serious Solo); Keeli Knobbe/ Addie Wallace (fifth in Duet Acting); Kaylee Johnson (fourth in Original Oration, Informative Speaking semi-finalist); Valden Dohl (fourth in Prose); Valden Dohl/Harlan Pancost (semi-finalist in Duet Acting); Jacob Schultz (fourth in Humorous Solo, Prose); Anna Feldkamp (sixth in Poetry, Prose); Goldie Dohe (semi-finalist in Original Oration, Prose).
Four other team members competed at the State Speech Festival in Salina: Isaac Schultz and Layne Buttenhoff (II in Improvised Duet Acting); Layne Buttenhoff (II in Humorous Solo Acting), and Montana Griffiths and Kristyn Nimz (II in Duet Acting). Hannah Pahls is also a member of the squad but could not attend the state competition.
The team Is coached and sponsored by Linda Haring. “I have been coaching for 27 years - all at Sylvan Lucas,” Haring said. “We now have 2 state championships, three 2nd place finishes, one 3rd place finish, and 15 league championships.”
