Speech and debate team competes at state tournament

The Austintown Fitch speech and debate team competed at the state tournament at Jackson-Massillon High School the weekend of March 2.

Thirty-four out of 47 students on the team qualified for the state tournament.

While competing against all 91 teams in the state of Ohio, Fitch placed ninth overall. Additionally, the team received two awards of excellence in both interpretation and rhetoric events for advancing 17 competitors to quarters, semis and final round.

Three students also qualified for the national tournament, which will take place in Dallas in June. Those students are seniors David Gunger and Haley Farrow and junior Johnna Blystone.

Individuals advancing in the state competition included: in Congressional Debate, Christa Schall, T’ynah Brown and Elise Williams advanced to quarter finals; in Declamation, Romond Duval and Taylor Baer advanced to semi finals, with Duval placing eighth and Baer placing 10th in the state; in Dramatic Interpretation, Amber Sierra and Cecilia Segretario advanced to quarter finals, with Segretario placing 10th in the state; in Duo Interpretation, Matt Bohr and Dante Bernard advanced to quarterfinals and Sarah Linton and Miranda Truslow to final round, with Linton and Truslow placing sixth in the state; in International Extemporaneous Speaking, David Gunger and Jeremy Selby to quarter finals; in Original Oratory, Johnna Blystone to final round, placing second in the state; in Program Oral Interpretation, Haley Farrow to quarter finals and John Zimmerman to semi finals, with Zimmerman placing eighth in the state and in United States Extemporaneous Speaking, Alex Giovannone and Kyle Anderson to quarter finals and Faith Marscio to semi finals, with Marscio placing 11th in the state.