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On Saturday, May 2, the Panther forensics squad travelled to Maize High School to compete at the KSHSAA 3A State Championship tournament, which was the largest tournament in the state of Kansas this year. “I’ve coached forensics for over 30 years, and this is the largest high school tournament in Kansas that I know of in that time span. The competition here today was really impressive,” coach Kim Pakkebier said.
That competition didn’t deter one Phillipsburg competitor who had her eyes set on finals. “When they announced that 3A was the largest forensics contest in the state, I was both excited and intimidated. I knew mistakes weren’t an option and every round had to be my A-game,” PHS junior Lydia Walker said. “The fact that there were 44 people in my event was hard to wrap my head around.”
Walker was Phillipsburg’s top finisher with a second place finish in the event of prose. “As I was standing on stage, my heart was pounding. I grew more hopeful, more excited as 6th place, 5th place, 4th place were called and it wasn’t my name. They called my name for second place, and it took a moment for it to sink in that out of all the incredible prose performers, mine was the second best. This accomplishment means so much,” Walker said.
Two other Phillipsburg competitors advanced to the semifinals to finish in the top 12: senior Kadence Grote finished her career with a seventh place finish in poetry, and sophomore Shae Baker placed 12th in oration. Just missing the semifinals were Jhett Johnson in the events of humorous solo and prose and Hannah Umbarger in the event of oration with 15th place finishes. Every event had over 30 qualified entries.
“Having six entries finish in the top 15 this year was a nice accomplishment for this young team,” Pakkebier said.
As a team, Phillipsburg placed 11th, just getting edged out by Wichita Collegiate in the finals for a top ten spot. “I’ll take that! Of our 16 entries at State this year, seven of those were first-year competitors in forensics, so that’s a solid placing for this year’s squad. I’m proud of all of them,” Pakkebier said.
Other team members who helped contribute points for the team throughout the prelims were junior Skyla Russell; sophomores Carter Bogart, Colton Summitt, Carter Grote; and freshmen Autumn Hueneke and Paige Ehm.
Junior Savannah Bretton competed in the State Festival at Maize and earned a “1” rating in the event of program of oral interpretation (POI).
“I want to thank our assistant coach Leslie Struckhoff for all her time and effort she spent helping our team this year. I’d also like to thank Cindy Walker, Jeremy Ford, Layton Johnson, and Jaxon Glendenning for fulfilling our judging requirements. We wouldn’t be able to compete without their help. So many people supported our team this year, and I am grateful for that,” Pakkebier said.
