SHS Forensics Captures League Title

HPL Champs for 2008

Of course coaches want to see their students perform at their best at all times, but there is something more at stake when the outing has "League" in its title. And whether the activity is athletic or academic in nature, the stakes are the same...every school is fighting for that same crown, the recognition of being the best in the league.

So started the morning of March 26 as the forensics team boarded the bus to Lakin in hopes of achieving both individual and team honor, not to mention an opportunity to compete at the state tournament in May. No one knew what the day had in store...all anyone could suppose was that each of the nine participating Hi-Plains League schools would be bringing their best to compete and that if there was going to be any chance of success, everyone would have to have a consistently strong day of performances.

What unfolded as the day continued was an amazing thing to witness. Students who, due to their involvement in numerous other activities, had had limited opportunities to practice or even compete were finishing at the tops of each round, every round. At the completion of the preliminary rounds, twelve of the eighteen entries had qualified for finals, with two more entries missing qualifying by the smallest of margins. Satanta was to be represented in eight of the nine categories, and several of the finalists were going into their final rounds in first place.

Ninety minutes later, as the ballots came in and scores were tallied, the SHS squad and its coaches had many reasons to be smiling. There were three league champions and four league runner-ups out of the twelve finalists, and the team as a whole had accumulated enough points throughout the tournament to bring home the title of Hi-Plains League Champions in Speech & Drama for 2008.

Finalists included H. Arslanovic, 3rd place in informative speaking; K. Clawson, HPL champ in extemporaneous speaking and HPL runner-up in oration; T. Dillon, 6th place in extemporaneous speaking; I. Green, HPL runner-up in poetry and 5th place in prose; B. Haddican, HPL champ in oration; S. Larkins, HPL runner-up in humorous solo; A. Molina, HPL runner-up in informative speaking; S. Larkins & A. Molina, 6th place in improvised duet acting; R. Rankin, HPL champ in poetry; and J. Sloan, 5th place in serious solo. Rounding out the team were K. Decker, S. Evans, J. Medrano, B. Oxford and P. Ungles.

Congratulations on an outstanding job! We are so proud of you!