The Chesterton Speech team closed out its regular season by hosting its annual Skeffington Memorial Speech Invitational this past weekend. Seven teams and more than 150 students participated in the all varsity tournament. CHS had 42 students place in the top eight in their respective events and had four tournament champions.

Junior Mikaela Meyer was the tournament champion in declamation, freshman Tim Vincent won international extemporaneous speaking, junior Nathan Dickinson took top honors in broadcasting, and for the fourth consecutive weekend senior Kiera Quealy won original performance. Meyer also placed sixth in original oratory, Quealy was seventh in drama, and Vincent finished second in impromptu. Vincent's performance as a freshman was certainly a highlight for the team.

Once again the team finished very well in broadcasting. Following Dickinson was senior Jadyn Beissel in second, freshman Sam Gordon in third, junior Tyler Colvin in fifth, sophomore Andrew Jugovic in sixth, sophomore Bradley Moore in seventh, and senior Christian O'Brien in eighth. Moore also placed sixth in original performance.

Junior Layla Mooradian and senior Jennifer Kattalia each placed in three events. Mooradian was second to Meyer in declamation, second in original oratory and she and Kattalia were fourth in memorized duo. Kattalia also placed third in drama and fifth in original oratory. Mooradian led the team with sweepstakes points but as the host school CHS did not compete for a team award.

Senior Aliyah Caraballo had two second place finishes, with a second in drama and a second with her partner, junior Danny Vincent, in memorized duo. Also in memorized duo, the senior team of Sharon Coleman and Kaylee Oates placed sixth. Oates also placed fourth in humor. Junior Jami Ritchea was fifth in humor and sixth in poetry, and sophomore Lauren Hogan was eighth in humor.

Sophomore Kasey O'Keefe finished fourth in drama and fifth in prose, and freshman Ellen Winski placed fourth in poetry and seventh in prose. In addition, the scripted duo team of senior Rachel Kidder and junior Justyn Lantz took second place, and Lantz finished eighth in poetry. Senior Anmol Patel was sixth in declamation.

In domestic extemporaneous speaking juniors Humaira Khan and Jessica Ratel-Khan were second and sixth, respectively, and in international extemporaneous junior Andrew Caratini finished third and sophomore Andrea Drygas was fourth. Caratini also placed third in impromptu speaking followed by Drygas in sixth. Freshman Eric Richardson placed eighth in impromptu.

Finally, in what has become a very competitive event, senior Ronnie Kovach placed fifth in discussion, followed by junior Zach Bogich in seventh.

"This was a good tune-up for next week's sectional tournament and the team knows they will need to work hard to be competitive," said Coach Bob Kelly.

Munster High School won the tournament with 150 points and Valparaiso placed second with 73 points. Elkhart Central was third with 43 points, followed by LaPorte with 15 points and fifth place portage with 8 points.

The coaching staff was assisted by former students and numerous parents who helped with judging and hospitality.

Posted 2/25/2013