36 Valley students qualify for national tourney

Staff report

boardman

The Northern Ohio Region of the National Forensic League had its National Qualifying Tournament earlier this month at Boardman High School.

The Northern Ohio Region, made up of 16 Youngstown-area schools, will send 36 students to the NFL National Speech & Debate Tournament in June in Indianapolis.

This is the largest number of students to represent the Northern Ohio Region.

Howland won the overall team tournament championship.

Here are the qualifiers, their schools and their categories:

Original Oratory: Eric DiBell and Heather Johnson, both of Howland; and Harleigh Solvesky of South Range.

Humorous Interpretation: Tim Nesnidol of Canfield; Carmella Ruberto of Howland; and Matthew Albani of Boardman.

Dramatic Interpretation: William Tipton and Rachel Ragheb, both of Howland; Hannah Rooney of Ursuline; and Alex Lucas of Niles McKinley.

Duo Interpretation: Alicia Lawson and Kiyan Taghaboni of Boardman; Hannah Gerdes and Shannon Lytle of Ursuline; and Jacob Clasen and Daniel Ferguson of Austintown Fitch.

Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking: Richard Clark of Cardinal Mooney; Ashley Orr of Columbiana; Caitlin Beckett of Austintown Fitch; and Taylor Hanigosky of Boardman.

International Extemporaneous Speaking: Alyssa Culp of Cardinal Mooney; Clayton Cooper of Columbiana; and J.C. Pierko of Niles McKinley.

Lincoln-Douglas Debate: Courtney DeRoche and Nate Sutton, both of Howland.

Public Forum Debate: Jake Briggs and Zack Cohn of Liberty; Ishmeet Grewal and Shane Deiley of Canfield; and Joseph Belgrad and Camron Bagheri of Ursuline.

Student Congressional Debate, Senate: Taylor Marconi of Cardinal Mooney; and Tyler Luonuansuu of Warren JFK.

Student Congressional Debate, House: Cassidy Teminsky of Ursuline; and Andrik Massaro and Nicole Chahine, both of Canfield.

Senior Student Participant of the Year: Hannah Gerdes of Ursuline.