Williams wins second-consecutive ‘Performer of the Year’ honor
By Randy Arrington
LURAY, Feb. 24 — The forensics team at Luray High School had quite a February… filled with a region title, a super region title, two performer of the year awards, two coach of the year honors, and 11 qualifiers for the state tournament in late March … all within a four-day span.
During the Super Region forensics tournament (Region A / Region B) that the Bulldogs hosted on Saturday, Feb. 24, Luray’s Sophia Williams was selected as the “Performer of the Year” for a second-straight year. Williams earned first place in Storytelling and qualified for the VHSL Class 2 state forensics tournament at Dominion High School in Sterling on Saturday, March 23.
As a team, the Bulldogs won the Super Region sweepstakes over Clarke County on Saturday, after finishing as runner-up to Windsor a year ago. Competing schools earn points for each student’s finish in each category to produce cumulative scores that determine sweepstakes winners.
A total of 11 LHS students qualified individually for the state tournament after finishing among the top three at the super region event. In addition, LHS forensics coaches Gwen Burley and Anthony Hammer were named the Super Region Coaches of the Year.
In addition to Williams, the LHS state qualifiers in forensics include:
- Brianna Plum — 1st place, Extemporaneous Speaking (30 min prep – 10 min. speech)
- Trevor Haugen — 1st place, Impromptu Speaking (7 min. to prep and deliver speech)
- Ronan Painter — 1st place, Humorous Interpretation (10 min. memorized piece)
- Madalyn Cubbage — 1st place, Poetry (10 min. reading / presentation)
- Mia Meyer — 2nd place, Dramatic Interpretation (10 min. memorized piece)
- Brigid Dudley — 2nd place, Poetry (10 min. reading / presentation)
- Lillian Jenkins — 3rd place, Original Oratory (10 min. presentation of original speech with note cards)
- Isabella Drain — 3rd place, Prose (10 min. reading / presentation)
- Evie King and Virginia Grieb — 3rd place, Humorous Duo Interpretation (10 min. memorized piece)
Just four days prior to the super region, Luray won its sixth-straight Region 2B title in forensics among a dozen schools at the competition hosted by the Bulldogs on Wednesday, Feb. 21. The region tournament was rescheduled from Feb. 17 due to inclement weather and consideration of schools traveling long distances.
At the region tournament, Williams was named the Region 2B “Performer of the Year” and LHS forensics coaches Burley and Hammer were also named Region 2B Coaches of the Year.
Nearly all of Luray’s individual performances at the Feb. 21 region tournament mirrored the super region outcomes highlighted above.
For more information about Luray High School,
visit https://www.pagecounty.k12.va.us/o/luray-hs
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