WACFL Metros is always nice in the sense that it re-invigorates the team, during the long lull between the state tournament and the big national tournaments. So, on Saturday, March 15, the RMA Speech and debate team was back at it again. Only this time the stakes were higher than normal, because this tournament was to be the deciding battle ground of the local Catholic Forensics League, this was the culmination of the season thus far, and these few rounds determined who would go on to nationals. The result: nine students qualified for CFL Nationals and R-MA took sweepstakes for the seventh-straight year.
For some time the students had been prepping their pieces, and studying world events, everything they could do to give them the slot they wanted. Freshman John Holsinger stated, “I really worked hard at Extemp, lots of reading, and practicing, I really cared about that event. Extemp taught me the value of focus and organization.” It was a busy but exciting time for everyone.
So, when our alarms went off, so early in the morning, we were ready. We took our showers and put on our suites (Usually in that order… except for John… probably), brushed our teeth, all the things that make tournament preparation eventful. Then we headed to the bus, and when Mr. Gregg arrived, we began loading extemp files, flow pads, pens, and food needs. We were fully prepared.
As the sun began to rise, along with our fruitful expectations, we headed to Sherando High School, only a few miles away. Once we were there Xing headed inside and found out where extemp prep was, and then we all traversed the halls to get there, setting up the files with ease. Other students, led by the always youthful and vigorous Evan Pionkowski, carried the food and competition supplies to the cafeteria which was serving as a General Assembly.
In no time at all the competition began, and throughout those four critical rounds, the team kept tabs on each other to make sure that everything was going swimmingly. Tommy Forte stated, “It’s always important to make sure that you watch out for your teammates, its important to be a team player.”
In the end, nine students qualified to nationals, and several went on to finals:
Oratory Champion: Brennan Morris
Declamation Champion: Max Ramundo
Extemp Finalists: Brennan Morris, Will Dungan
Declamation Finalists: Apryl Sands
Qualifiers: Evan Pionkowski, Valerie Pratt, John Holsinger (Ext)
Some students went home with their relatives, and the rest headed to diner, where they reviewed ballots and began thinking about the next step: nationals.
Posts
