The Manhattan High Forensics team had three students place and four students make it to semi-finals at the Kansas State High Schools Activities Association State tournament.

Sophomore JB Brock competed in Lincoln Douglas Debate and Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking. Junior Eszter Chikan placed third in Original Oratory.

Freshman Allie Cloyd placed fifth in Program of Oral Interpretation. Over spring break, Cloyd worked on cutting a piece and State qualified at the first tournament she took it to.

“I’m just happy I got to go to State with [the piece],” Cloyd said. “And it ended up doing well.”

Junior Sam DeLong placed fourth in Program of Oral Interpretation and sixth in Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking. 

“I felt like I performed decently well in every round so I would say it was just overall [a] pretty satisfying conclusion to like the regular season,” DeLong said.

Sophomore Jonah Dorsett was a semi-finalist in Dramatic Interpretation. Freshman Allina Dougherty participated in Original Oratory. Sophomore Lasirra Hines was a semi-finalist in Original Oratory. Junior Megan Long competed in Original Oratory. Freshman Jack McCornack competed in Lincoln Douglas Debate.

Freshman Andrew Hutchinson participated in Humorous Interpretation. Hutchinson is learning from his experience at State to go back to State next year.

“I felt like my like highlight was probably my second round,” Hutchinson said. “It was definitely the best performance I had done all season.”

Senior KJ Jones competed in Original Oratory. Senior Nicole Savage was a semi-finalist in Impromptu Speaking. Freshman Anvesha Sharda participated in International Extemporaneous Speaking. Junior Ryan Ward was a semi-finalist in Humorous Interpretation. Freshman Kate Ward participated in Program of Oral Interpretation. 

After experiencing an entire semester of forensics online, students and head coach Mac Phrommany are ready to go back to performing in person. Part of the struggle of this semester has been attempting to adapt pieces to the reactions of judges. Sometimes judges have their cameras off and therefore students cannot adjust their piece.

“I definitely prefer performing in person in pretty much every way,” DeLong said. “You’ll get judges who don’t have their camera on so it’s very hard to read if they are enjoying [the] piece, if you need to tone it down.”

Another experience that has been lost this year due to virtual competitions are the elements that usually happen before and after competing. Students in previous years would travel to the tournament and go to different restaurants. 

“I’m even more excited to share [the elements] with these students coming up,” head coach Mac Phrommany said. “Knowing how inherited they are with just competition and just virtual interaction makes me all that more excited to see them get that level of energy boost that comes from the traveling and the food and the exploration together.”

Forensics will meet next this summer for the National tournament.