On January 22, the Chesterton High School Speech Team traveled to Mishawaka to compete at Penn High School’s invitational tournament. The team took 3rd in sweepstakes with 61 points, only 8 points behind the 2nd place finisher. 23 student entries went to the tournament, and Chesterton made finals in every event the team competed in. Notably, Jackson Dudek continued his impressive winning streak in Broadcasting by taking his 6th consecutive tournament championship, as well as winning Original Performance with partner Josh Hoover.

The team competed in three preliminary rounds and one final as they normally do, but with the welcome addition of the debate team competing in their District tournament at the same time. Three tournaments in total were occurring at the same time at Penn, making for a very busy, but successful day. 

The third place sweepstakes ribbon was awarded to Dylan Leavitt by head coach Dakota McCoy. Leavitt finished in the top three in both of her events, and worked incredibly hard throughout the week to earn those placings. 

“We gave Dylan this ribbon to honor her hard work and the commitment she puts in week after week. Her dedication is unmatched, and the coaches wanted to recognize that officially.” McCoy commented.

Next weekend, the speech team gets a break as the debate team heads to the State Tournament at Marian University in Indianapolis. 

The following students finished in the Top 6 in their events:

• Addison Botts- 1st in Novice Poetry
• Lillian Demmon- 3rd in Novice Original Oratory
• Jackson Dudek- 1st in Original Performance, 1st in Broadcasting
• Gigi Hanner- 2nd in Broadcasting, 2nd in Original Oratory
• Joshua Hoover- 5th in Humorous Interpretation, 1st in Original Performance
• Savannah Hutchinson- 2nd in Congressional Debate
• Elsa Leady- 2nd in Novice Prose, 1st in Novice Humorous Interpretation
• Dylan Leavitt- 3rd in POI, 2nd in Informative
• Natalie Nuñez- 5th in Dramatic Interpretation, 1st in Original Oratory
• Katie Pampalone- 3rd in Congressional Debate
• Carmen Thomas- 4th in Novice Prose, 1st in Novice Original Oratory
• Payton Whalen- 6th in Congressional Debate