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GBHS forensics squad wins first place at Wilson
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GBHS forensics students are shown in front of the “World’s Largest Czech Egg,” said following a tournament at Wilson. Back row from left: Maddix Pokorski, Isaiah Smith, Analeah Ochs, Lea Nokes, Ethan Middleton, Quinton Heath; middle row: Xanna Smith, Darcy Feist, Reese King, Alondra Alvarez, Milena Carbajal, Malachi Wasson; front row, Eave Taylor and Thomas Henrikson.

WILSON — On Saturday, Feb. 26, the Great Bend Panther Forensics team took the short drive over to the “Czech Capital of Kansas” to support a new forensics program at Wilson High School. Even though it was the first event ever hosted by the Wilson Dragons, it was a very competitive and successful tournament, said GBHS coach Kim Heath. Great Bend finished 1st out of the 20 schools in attendance by just one point.

After the awards ceremony, the squad took a group photo with the 20 foot tall World’s Largest Czech Egg.  

“Each of the students earn points for every round of competition that are based on their ranking in the round,” Heath said. “So the sweepstakes competition is a true team effort. If one of the Panther competitors had been ranked one place lower at any point of the tournament, GBHS would not have ended up on top.”

Pratt was second with 159 points and Sterling was a close third with 157 points.  

In Duo Interpretation, Isaiah Smith and Malachi Wasson captured the gold medal. Milena Carbajal and Alondra Alvarez finished seventh. In Humorous Interpretation, Thomas Henrikson was 5th.  

GBHS had four students place in Program of Oral Interpretation. This is a difficult event where the student weaves together poetry, prose, play scripts, news articles and other genres to create an original piece. Junior Eave Taylor won the event and became GBHS’s newest State Qualifier.  Rounding out the POI medal winners for the Panthers were Maddix Pokorski at fourth, Analeah Ochs at fifth, and Lea Nokes at sixth.

The Panthers found great success in the speaking events. Isaiah Smith qualified for State by placing second in Impromptu. This activity tests the speaker’s ability, in five minutes, to come up with supporting examples to form a coherent and well-delivered speech on a random topic. Because each student may only enter two events at State and this is Isaiah’s third state qualification, he will need to choose which events he takes. Alvarez placed 5th and Pokorski finished 7th in Impromptu. It was Alvarez’s first time to enter the Impromptu event.   

Pokorski was the 6th-place medalist in Extemporaneous Speaking. Alvarez won the silver in Original Oratory, and Freshman Darcy Feist took home 4th place in this persuasive speech event. Finally, in a sibling rivalry, Isaiah Smith just barely beat out Xanna Smith in Informative speaking placing fourth and sixth respectively.  

Those not placing but contributing to the sweepstakes trophy included Chanler Riley, Reese King and Ethan Middleton.

In other forensic activities, two students from Great Bend competed in the West Kansas Friday night Congress circuit last week. Junior Maddix Pokorski sponsored several different bills and placed 3rd in the Varsity House. Sophomore Thomas Henrikson finished right behind him in 4th place.

This Saturday, a small group of forensic students will represent GBHS at Hoisington. Many members of the squad will be busy performing on the high school stage this weekend in the production of “Arsenic and Old Lace.”