4 Valley students included among 13 champions
Mooney was second overall in state competition; Howland was third.
BOARDMAN -- The Mahoning Valley was well-represented among the winners of the Ohio High School Speech League state tournament this weekend, claiming four of the 13 champions, three of them from Cardinal Mooney High School.
"That's pretty good," said Eric Simione, Boardman's speech coach, adding that not many coaches have had three winners in the same year. Matt Cretell is Mooney's speech coach.
Mooney's strong individual performances led to a second-place team finish, behind only Perry High School (Massillon). Howland was third; Wooster, fourth; Glen Oak (Canton), fifth; Poland Seminary, which had the other local first-place finisher, sixth; Centerville and Jackson (Massillon), tied for seventh; St. Peter Chanel (Cleveland), ninth; and Austintown Fitch and Boardman, tied for 10th. Eighty-three teams competed.
Mooney's three state champions are Joseph St. George in international extemporaneous, Jeanine Awad in original oratory, and Brianna Lockett in oratorical interpretation. Poland's state champion is Rachel Von Ahn in humorous interpretation.
In all, nearly 1,000 high school students from across the state competed at Boardman High School on Friday and Saturday.
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Other local students who earned top finishes were:
In the oratorical, local participants won four of the top seats. Besides Lockett, they were Maddie Stevens of Girard, second; Jacqueline Cohol, third; and Amanda Franklin, fourth, both of Austintown Fitch.
In addition to St. George, there were three top finishers in international extemporaneous: Theresa Hanna of Cardinal Mooney, fifth; Zachary Christoff of Cardinal Mooney, sixth; and Laura Dankovich of Canfield, seventh.
There were two top-ranked students in the humorous category in addition to Von Ahn: Ron Aulet of Niles McKinley, third; and Bill Klein of Austintown Fitch, sixth. In duo interpretation, the team of Kelly Grove and Deanna Pesa of Poland was second, and the team of David Keifer and Shane McGee from Niles was third.
Domestic extemporaneous
Three locals were top finishers in domestic extemporaneous: William Cochran of Howland, fifth; Alex Draime of Howland, sixth; and Kara Kowalczyk of Cardinal Mooney, seventh. Cirag Dhami of Howland was fourth in original oratory.
In prose and poetry, four of the top six places were won by locals: Antonia Nwankwo of Ursuline, second; Megan Vendemia of Ursuline, third; Kendra Hearn of Howland fourth; and Jessica Curtis of Boardman, fifth.
Two locals finished strong in the impromptu category: Sean Ryan of Howland, fifth; and Lindsay Kuhn of Canfield, sixth.
Other top ranked students were Thayne Johnson and Julian Landau of Boardman, seventh in public forum; and Tom Lipinsky of Poland, seventh in Lincoln-Douglas.