Free State High School has won its fifth-straight KSHSAA 6A state speech championship, and two students won three individual championships.
Lawrence High School’s team came in fifth place overall, with three students finishing in the top 4 in their events.
Coach Kelly Thompson said the team advanced 15 of its 18 entries to elimination rounds, and 11 of those advanced to the Championship Round.
“In total the team scored 367 points, besting the second place team by 18 points,” Thompson said via email Monday morning.
Connor Brown won state championships in Lincoln Douglas debate and domestic extemporaneous speaking. Anwen Williams won the state championship in international extemporaneous speaking.
For Lawrence High, Giulia Ventello won second in poetry, third in dramatic interpretation and third in program of oral interpretation. Rose Kennedy won third in informative speaking and fifth in oration, and Shea Spiess took fourth in humorous interpretation.
Both schools recently qualified several students for the national tournament, which will be held June 16-21 in Des Moines, Iowa. Read more about that at this link.
Free State’s additional individual results included:
• Ava Ayala, runner up, prose
• Anwen Williams, runner up, informative
• Laura Turner, 3rd, prose
• Sophie Racy, 3rd, oratory
• Ava Ayala, 3rd, poetry
• Carter Fite, 4th, international extemporaneous speaking
• Landry Koester, 5th, poetry
• KJ Jones, 6th, dramatic interpretation
FSHS semifinalists included:
• Ava Ayala, humorous interpretation
• Anwen Williams, oratory
• Eli Roust, informative speaking
• Lena Hasiuk, domestic extemporaneous speaking
And also representing Free State:
• Kaitlynn Sedich, poetry
• Olive Minor, oratory
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Molly Adams / Lawrence Times
