Wayne Walden, Paducah Tilghman
Tuesday, January 15, 2013 2:56 pm

The Paducah Tilghman Speech and Forensic Team took First Place out of 10 teams competing in the Marshall County Speech Tournament on January 12, 2013. The team scored 231 points to the 195 points earned by 2nd place finisher Calloway County. Third place went to Henry County High of Paris, TN, with 110 points.

Tilghman top individual finishers were: Broadcasting, Will Hancock, 1st; Hasaan Ali, 6th; Declamation: Cassie Arboleda, 4th; Savanna Whelan, 6th; Duo Interpretation, Katie Paxton and Savanna Whelan, 2nd ; Alexis Ash and Yasmine Martinez, 4th; Michael Hassel and Andrew Shannon, 6th; Extemporaneous Speaking, Victoria Potter, 1st; Jacob Holtgrewe, 3rd; Humorous Interpretation, Cason Walden, 1st; Caleb Farley, 3rd; Impromptu Speaking, Victoria Potter, 1st; Will Hancock, 2nd;  Abigale Byers, 6th; Improvisational Duo, Meg Hancock and Daly Spicer, 5th; Maggie Malone and Millie Wyant, 6th; Original Oratory, Victoria Potter, 1st; Will Hancock, 4th; Meg Hancock, 5th; Poetry, Caleb Farley, 2nd; Alexis Ash, 4th; Storytelling, Meg Hancock, 7th; Erin
Burba, 4th; Tristen Miller, 3rd.

Saturday afternoon Tilghman took First Place in the Murray High Speech Tournament. Tilghman scored 238 points. Calloway placed second with 196 points, and Henry County, 3rd, 82 points.  The Murray High Tournament was also a 10 team meet.

The team’s top scorer’s were: Broadcasting, Will Hancock, 1st; Daly Spicer,6th; Declamation: Savanna Whelan, 4th; Cassie Arboleda, 6th;  Dramatic Interpretation, Elizabeth Behrens, 6th; Duo Interpretation, Katie Paxton and Savanna Whelan, 1st; Alexis Ash and Yasmine Martinez, 3rd; Michael Hassel and Andrew Shannon, 4th; Extemporaneous Speaking, Victoria Potter, 1st; Jacob Holtgrewe, 5th; Humorous Interpretation, Cason Walden, 3rd; Caleb Farley, 4th; Impromptu Speaking, Victoria Potter, 1st; Will Hancock, 3rd;  Abigale Byers, 7th; Improvisational Duo, Cade Perfili and Savanna Whelan, 6th;  Maggie Malone and Millie Wyant, 7th; Original Oratory, Victoria Potter, 1st; Meg Hancock, 2nd; Will Hancock, 3rd; Poetry, Alexis Ash, 1st; Tristen Miller, 3rd; Michael Hassel, 4th; Caleb Farley, 5th; Prose, Yasmine Martinez, 5th; Montana Holifield, 7th; Storytelling, Erin Burba, 2nd; Tristen Miller, 3rd.

The PTHS team won a total of 52 awards for the day, in addition to earning many additional top 3 places in preliminary rounds, and moved seventeen members to advanced levels of degrees in the national speech and debate honor society, the National Forensic League.

Six team students achieved membership status by earning a Merit degree. This degree qualifies them to compete in the National Forensic League district and national competitions.  They are: Abigale Byers; Jonah Lampley; Daly Spicer; Yuka Tanaka, and Kathryn Winfield.

Advancing to Degrees of HONOR were: Cassie Arboleda; Caleb Farley, Alex Goreing and Meg Hancock. Caleb Farley leapt from non-member directly to an Honor degree.

Achieving Degree of  EXCELLENCE status were: Jacob Holtgrewe; Tristen Miller; Cason Walden.

Elizabeth Behrens and Savanna Whelan moved from Excellence to Degree of DISTINCTION status, while Will Hancock and Victoria Potter advanced from Degrees of Distinction to SPECIAL DISTINCTION status. Degrees of Special Distinction are awarded only to speakers or performers who have earned more than 500 competition points during the course of their high school career.

Based on her teams cumulative point totals, Speech Team coach Martha Emmons earned the designation of a one diamond coach.

Tilghman hosts the Tornado Alley Speech Invitational at home on Saturday, January 19, 2013.