Three Tiger forensics students bound for nationals

The regular forensics season concluded the same way it began -- with success.

The Tigers headed in two directions to compete -- one group went to Coffeyville for the final leg of the national qualifying tournaments and the other was in Tonganoxie.

At the National Forensics League qualifier, Fort Scott earned three more national spots.

Eric Garner and Ackland Milton finished first and second in Dramatic Interpretation. Ashley Allen earned her trip by finishing second in Foreign Extemporaneous Speaking.

They will join previous qualifiers Baker Weilert, Reed Ramsey and Tyler Slinkard in Indianapolis this summer.

The team earned its sixth consecutive NFL forensics team sweeps title, along with the overall title which combines with their earlier efforts at the debate qualifier.

Several other Tigers contributed to the effort. In Dramatic Interp, Taylor Watkins fell right behind her teammates to place third. This effort was matched by freshman Taylor Nielson, who came up just short, placing third in Humorous Interp. Also in Humorous Interp, Samantha Tucker was a finalist and Ben Sweyko, a semi-finalist.

At Tonganoxie, the squad had 11 finalists. Baker Weilert made finals in all three of his events, winning two of them.

He won both Duet, with partner Reed Ramsey, and Poetry and finished runner-up in Humorous Solo Acting.

Reed was a double finalist winning Serious Solo Acting to go along with the first place Duet. The other champion for the Tigers was sophomore D.J. Blethen who came away with Informative Speech gold and was runner up in Duet with partner, Brett Allen, who was a finalist in Informative.

Also distinguishing themselves were: first year competitor, Michael Peterson, who double-broke into finals placing in both Poetry and Humorous Solo Acting and Caleb Moore who medaled in Impromptu Speaking and Original Oration.

The final Kansas competition for the team will take place on May 5 at the state tournament where Fort Scott will be striving for their fourth consecutive state title.

"We lost 11 state placers from last year's team so we had a lot of holes to fill," Coach Brian Weilert said. "I have been impressed by this group's willingness to pick up the torch and push forward. We are younger and less experienced than ... we have been in the past, but their efforts this year should have them confident heading into Topeka next week."

On April 27, the Fort Scott Forensics team will present a showcase in the high school auditorium starting at 7 p.m.

Admission is a free-will donation with all proceeds going directly to the speech program.

Submitted by Brian Weilert.