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Speech and debate teams take home prizes in Canfield’s annual tournament
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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. Boardman and Cardinal Mooney earned the fifth and sixth place awards, respectively.
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.
Boardman and Ursuline tied in fifth, and Poland Seminary rounded out the awards with sixth place.
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.
Teammates Dan Catello and Diandra Lazor from Ursuline earned first and second place, respectively, in the Humorous Interpretation event. Jillian Smith from Canfield took third place in this 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.
Ursuline’s Emily Schrader and Greg Sauline earned the first place award in Duo Interpretation. Kiyan Taghaboni and Alicia Lawson from the Boardman team took home the second place prize. The third place award went to Alex Sage and Josh Saverko from the Columbiana team.