Speech and debate teams take home prizes

Sixteen high schools competed in the annual Canfield Speech and Debate Tournament at Canfield High School Jan. 9.

The tournament, sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of Western Mahoning County, awarded schools with three team awards in addition to individual prizes.

The first team prize, the Team Sweepstakes, was calculated based on the top competitors schools had in each of the 11 events. Canfield earned first place in the Team Sweepstakes, followed by Austintown Fitch, then Niles McKinley. Howland took fourth place.

The Power Sweepstakes, the second team prize, was determined by the number of competitors that advanced to the elimination rounds in the individual events. Canfield took first place, Austintown Fitch earned second, followed by Howland and Niles McKinley in third and fourth, respectively.

The final team award, the Kate Farragher Memorial Trophy, recognized the most improved team from the previous year’s Canfield tournament. The award was given to Columbiana High School.

For the nine speech categories, Branton Henry from Niles McKinley earned first place recognition for Oratorical Interpretation. Janell Verdream from Austintown Fitch was awarded second place. Nicole Cirbus from Austintown Fitch earned third place.

In Original Oratory, Gabby Schiraldi from Canfield took first place, followed by Emily Holloway from Niles McKinley and Brittany Lowe from Austintown Fitch in second and third place, respectively.

For the Dramatic Interpretation category, Niki Dhami from Howland won first place, followed by teammate William Tipton in second. Alexandria Sudik from Niles McKinley took third.

For Extemporaneous Speaking, John Vagas from Canfield earned the first place award in the United States category. Justin Wilkinson from Boardman took second place for the U.S. category, and Anthony Tam from Howland followed with the third place prize. Tim Welsh from Boardman took home the first place prize for the International Extemporaneous Speaking event. Lauren Tonti from Cardinal Mooney earned second place in this category, followed by Ian Macgillivray from Columbiana in third place.

Sarah Gilger from the Howland team took home the first place award for Prose and Poetry Reading. Second place in this category was awarded to Jacob Velasco from Austintown Fitch and the third place prize went to Josh Easterling from Niles McKinley.

In Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Chris Kiriakou of Howland was recognized in first place, followed by Ron DeAmicis from Austintown-Fitch in second place. Maggie Wagner of Canfield and Allison Ge of Ursuline were awarded as semi-finalists in this event.