Manhattan High School Forensics has brought up their total State Qualifiers to 22 and the additional two National Qualifiers junior Kate Ward and junior Sydney Vahl. 

Ward will be attending the National Individual Events Tournament of Champions for the second year in a row in Informative Speaking. 

“I was really stressed in the prelim rounds but I was very relieved when I finally got my second bid,” Ward said, “It was really exciting and now I can relieve my stress for the rest of the season. 

Vahl will be attending NIETC for the first time in her Forensics career in Original Oratory.

“I’m really amazed at how far I got this year,” Vahl said. “I didn’t even qualify for state last year, I am really proud of my progress,” Vahl said. 

Feb. 19 the Forensics team went to Dodge City with junior Allie Cloyd placing second in Humorous Interpretation. Ward placed third in Informative Speaking as well as bringing home a National Qualifier title. Sophomore Kennedy Crabtree also placed in Informative speaking at sixth place. Vahl placed third in Oral Oratory and senior Honour Robinson sixth in Poetry. 

Feb. 27 at the Eudora Forensics Tournament, freshman Hunter Flagg placed fifth and junior Elijah Cunningham placed sixth in Humorous Interpretation. Freshman Raychel Deines placed sixth in Dramatic Interpretation, Junior Noah Moots placed sixth in Oral Oratory and Freshman Emron Streetman placed in two categories, sixth in Oral Oratory and 6th in International Extemporaneous Speaking.

March 10 Manhattan High School hosted the Forensics tournament with all members assisting with events. The tournament held 13 schools with 253 entries and over 100 judges. 

March 6 at the Olathe Northwest Tournament ended with the team having a total of six national bids to NIETOC, each participant needing to have two bids per event to qualify for nationals. The two national qualifiers are Ward with three bids in Informative Speaking and Vahl with two bids in Oral Oratory. Sophomore Jamen Trojack has one bid in Domestic Extemporaneous. Cloyd has one bid in Program Oral Interpretation and one bid in Humorous Interpretation and junior Jordyn West has one bid in Informative Speaking.

“I think it has been an exponentially strong year of growth compared to previous years,” head coach Mac Phrommany said. “With as large as we are, it has been a bit of a learning curve, but the team has been doing well for themselves.”