Add another Sectional Championship to the string of more than 30 consecutive!  The Plymouth Speech Team out-distanced 2nd place Elkhart Central by a score of 234 to 85 in the 12-team field.  The dominant performance was executed as PHS became the only team in the state to advance all 36 of its entries from the Sectional to the State Finals AND won 10 of the 14 events at the Sectional.  Individual champions included Rebecca Brumbaugh and Shelby Pratt in Memorized Duo, Jessica Cleveland in Drama, Patrick Felke in International Extemp, Cassie Gaines and Olivia Hilliard in Scripted Duo, Pauline Dagaas in Declamation, Michaila Nate in both USA Extemp and Impromptu, April Bowen and Kate Peters in Original Performance, Gracie Gilbertson in Poetry, and Shelby Pratt in Humor.  This weekend, the team turns its attention toward national qualification as it prepares for a very competitive district tournament here at PHS on Saturday.

The Plymouth High School Speech Team started the first national qualifying tournament of the three by establishing their team as a dominant one for this year. Eight schools and nearly 75 students converged on Plymouth High School at 7:30 AM and battled through hours of Congressional debate until qualifiers were announced nearly 12 hours later. Junior Michaila Nate won first place in the Senate and qualified for national competition in Indianapolis this June. Nate also qualified as a sophomore where she made it to the Super Senate. 
     Senior Rebecca Brumbaugh won one of the House of Representatives to earn her first trip to a National Tournament. Brumbaugh finished runner-up at the District Tournament last year. 
     Kelsey Schaffer and Ashton Morrow were both awarded outstanding Presiding Officers in their respective chambers. Kelsey Schafer was named second alternate in her chamber. Now the speech team will compete in the District Debate Tournament in February and the District Speech Tournament in March.