Speech and Debate Continues to Impress

1/13/2025

Laurel’s Middle and Upper School Speech and Debate team kicked off 2025 with a Laurel-hosted tournament on January 4 that garnered some amazing results, including 1st place in Dramatic Interpretation and a bid to the State Tournament for McKenna Caver ‘26, 1st place in Program Oral Interpretation and a bid to States for Julia Duong ‘26, and 1st place in United States Extemporaneous Speaking and a bid to States for Ella Witalec ‘25.

The team also earned four 2nd place finishes and three 3rd place finishes, including 2nd for Izanec ‘25 in Informative Speaker and her fourth bid to States, officially qualifying her!

Below are all of the individual results.

Declamation:

6th place - Taryn Goedecke ‘28

5th place - Noa Karr ‘28

4th place - Chloe Ng ‘28

3rd place - Katie Spellacy ‘28

Dramatic Interpretation:

1st place (Bid) - McKenna Caver '26

Extemp Debate (Middle School):

3rd place - Ivy Collins ‘31

2nd place - Aven Andrews ‘31

Humorous Interpretation:

3rd place - Yamini Sridhar ‘28

2nd place - Kimberley Krug ‘28

Informative Speaking:

6th place - Brynn Littman ‘26

2nd place (Bid) - Izanec ‘25

Interpretation (Middle School):

3rd place - Taylor Robinson ‘30

Program Oral Interpretation:

1st place (Bid) - Julia Duong ‘26

United States Extemporaneous Speaking:

4th place - Brooke Prengler ‘28

2nd place - Claire Sheeler ‘25

1st place (Bid) - Ella Witalec ‘25

On January 10 the team headed to Hathaway Brown where they saw more incredible results, including another 1st place for Julia Duong (Program Oral Interpretation) and Ella Witalec (United States Extemporaneous Speaking). Below are individual results from January 10.

Declamation:

Top Novice - Chloe Ng ‘28

Dramatic Interpretation:

6th place - McKenna Caver ‘26

Extemporaneous Speaking (Middle School):

6th place - Christine Krug ‘31

Humorous Interpretation:

3rd place - Kimberley Krug ‘28

Informative Speaking:

4th place - Izanec ‘25

Lincoln-Douglas Debate:

Top Novice - Shaashwatiyaa Balamurugan ‘28