Wildcat forensics wins sweepstakes title

The Louisburg High School forensics team won the sweepstakes trophy during the Iola Tournament on Saturday. Overall, the Wildcats won 25 medals over two tournaments and qualified in 11 more events for the state tournament. 

It would have been hard for the Louisburg High School forensics team to top the Wildcats’ opening weekend of 38 medalists and 13 state qualifiers.

They came pretty close.

Saturday marked another strong outing from the Wildcats as they competed in two tournaments to capture 25 medals and qualify for the state tournament in 11 more events. The top two in each competition qualify for the state tournament later in the year.

“Each week I get more excited at what this team can accomplish,” Louisburg coach Brian Weilert said. “If you look at many of the events, we are beating up on ourselves in the finals. We all know we have a long way to go, but I would be hard pressed to remember a better start to a season.”

Several Wildcats made the trip to the Iola tournament, where they competed against 18 other teams. By the end of the day, Louisburg had 15 finalists and captured its second sweepstakes trophy of the season.

The Wildcats also placed eight in the top two, which qualified for the state tournament.

Members of the Louisburg High School forensics team pose with their third-place trophy and medals following Saturday’s Pittsburg tournament.

The team of Kallee Bartlett and Lexie Hubbard finished first in the duet competition and Stephanie Rose won the poetry event. Abigail Bergman took first in prose and was also second in duet with partner Spencer Rogers.

Rogers came in second in informative speaking, while Emily Ventre was runner-up in both serious solo acting and prose.

Rose picked up a medal for taking third in serious solo acting and Andrea Leach medaled fourth in poetry. Zach Waite finished third in original oration.

Ashley Allen came in fourth in extemporaneous speaking and sixth in informative speaking. Skylar Keaton medaled fifth in both extemporaneous and informative speaking.

Louisburg also sent a group to the Pittsburg Tournament where it finished third overall and had three state qualifiers.

Jonathon Ventre took the title in serious solo acting and Chloe Philgreen was runner-up in humorous solo acting. Vonnah LaHue and partner McKenzie Vanmeerhaeghe came in second in duet and qualified for state.

Dalton Knipp and Kyle Green earned medals for Louisburg as they finished third in serious solo acting and humorous solo acting, respectively.

Philgreen medaled fourth in prose and Maya Hites also got a medal for her fourth place finish in serious solo acting. Vanmeerhaeghe took fifth in serious solo acting.