Speech team is 'most efficient'

The LaRue County High School Speech team won an award for efficiency this weekend at the state championship hosted by the Kentucky Educational Speech and Drama Association in Lexington.

Members of the LaRue County High School Speech Team are Brian Anderson, Madison Lee, Dalton Puckett, Sydney Cline, Elijah Thomas, Claudia King, Alison Schurfeld, Josh Adams, Joey Gearon, Curtis Milby, Marshall Metcalf, Christian Pope, Amarah Reed and Zachary Thurman.

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LaRue County High School speech students from left, Brian Anderson, Elijah Thomas, Alison Schurfeld, Joey Gearon, Curtis Milby, Christian Pope and Zachary Thurman.

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The team placed fourth overall – despite having fewer than half of the entries of several competing schools.

This is LaRue’s second time in three years winning the squad efficiency award, which is given every year to the team whose individual students average the most points toward the overall sweepstakes totals. 

“Basically the award means that our team overall is the best quality team in the tournament,” said Head Coach Katy Cecil. “We may not have as many entries, or fill up each category, but what we have competing is of the utmost quality and has the potential to do very well.”

Twenty of the team’s 46 entries advanced into elimination rounds, and 11 of those advanced on to finals. 

“I could not be more proud of this team. They have amazed me all year with their dedication. They are all solid performers who bring their best to every round of every tournament,” said Cecil. 

The team brought home two individual championships. Brian Anderson won the extemp championship and Curtis Milby won the poetry championship. 

Other finalists included Joey Gearon, second in impromptu and fourth in extemp; Anderson, fourth in expository; Milby, second in humorous interpretation; Elijah Thomas, third in poetry and fifth in humorous interpretation; Zachary Thurman, sixth in storytelling; Christian Pope, sixth in broadcasting; and Alison Schurfeld, sixth in oratory.

Anderson and Milby also placed in the overall category that recognizes students who participate in five different events and do well. Anderson took sixth overall and Milby took 10th.

With more than 200 students competing in the tournament, this is certainly an impressive accomplishment, said Cecil. Each of these student finalists also stands to receive a $10,000 renewable yearly scholarship to Georgetown College if they choose to attend. 

Students who advanced to quarters and semifinals but did not advance to finals include: Amarah Reed in poetry; Madison Lee in poetry; Sydney Cline in prose; Thurman in broadcasting; Gearon in broadcasting; Anderson in poetry and impromptu; Schurfeld in declamation; and Thomas in dramatic interpretation. 

The team competes in the CFL State Qualifier this weekend which will give students the opportunity to compete on the national level in Philadephia in May.  On March 15-16, the students will travel to Lexington to compete in the Kentucky High School Speech League State Championships, and on March 22-23, they will compete in the NFL State Qualifier to earn a chance to compete at another national level tournament in Birmingham this June.

“We still have quite a bit of our season ahead of us,” said Cecil, “you definitely have not heard the last of these awesome kids – we have a lot more to come.”