News Benton Speech Team – WaMaC Champs!

The speech season got off to a great start on Monday, January 14th as the Benton Community High School speech team brought home the WaMaC Championship title for large group speech at the West Division conference contest. The contest winner is determined by a complicated point system, whereby groups are rated and ranked by two or three judges. Top rankings (1-5) are converted to points and those points are then totaled. Freshman teams are judged, but do not score in the overall point determination. 

The Benton team earned first place rankings in one act play, radio, and short film. Benton groups also took home second place for musical theatre, ensemble acting, and reader’s theatre, third place for ensemble acting and radio, and fourth place for improv, ensemble acting and choral reading. Those 12 groups earned the team a point total of 49.5, topping Center Point Urbana with 41 points and Independence with a score of 37. Clear Creek Amana, Marion, Vinton-Shellsburg and Williamsburg also competed at the contest. 

Coach Mary Horst is in her ninth year as coach of the Benton speech team and was excited to be able to bring the team to the contest, which was held at Vinton-Shellsburg. “We often can’t attend this contest due to conflicts with other activities for our students. We were happy the contest was held in Vinton this year and we were ready to compete.” 

On to State  

Following the WaMaC contest, the team travelled to Keota for the District Large Group Speech contest on Saturday, January 19th. Benton speech groups earned 16 Division I ratings and 5 Division II ratings at that contest, advancing 70 members of their team on to state! 

Those groups advancing to the state contest include: one act play, choral reading, readers theatre (2), radio broadcasting (3), group improvisation (2), group mime (3), short film, ensemble acting (2) and musical theatre. 

“We have worked hard and the time has come to do our best,” stated Horst. “We felt well prepared for the district contest, but each level of competition demands a higher level of skill and preparation. The challenge is to keep improving.” Horst and assistant coaches Lois Deerberg and Theresa Thompson have their work cut out for them with such a large team. Horst added, “There are many 4A schools with fewer groups than we have. It’s a hectic day trying to manage 21 groups, but we expect our students to help each other when it’s crunch time, and they always come through.”  

2nd row: Brooke Boddicker, Matthew Sliter, Rachel Larsen, Jasmine McMillen, Megan McGovern, Kaitlyn Wells, Becca Kimm, Jamie Ballard, Alyssa Lesmeister, Cory Mankin 

3rd row: Christina Harte, Ben Hearther, Evan Lueckenotto, Laura Mohs, Austin Lauterwasser, Madi Knaack, Kaelyn Knaack, Amanda Zweigart, Rachel Koehn, Jessica Beatty, and Coach Mary Horst 

4th row: Shyanne Baker, Jesi Timm, Riley Hanson, Jacey Mohs, Hannah Miller, Anna Hagen, Ashley Frimml, Lauren Ness, Megan Blomberg, Justin Heins, and Asst. Coach Lois Deerberg 

5th row: Caitlyn Conway, Alyssa Hoeppner, Haile Berger, Lauren Hass, Nicole Banks, Hannah Thompson, Megan Lueckenotto, Courtney Metz, MacKenzie Babka, Taylor Peterson, Mary Bode 

6th row: Cassidy Nulty, Cormick Michael, Ryan Lawrence, Julie Gales, Mikayla Zweigart, Courtney Wilson-Becker, Lexi Mather, Morgan Johnson, Dezi Bridgewater, Haley Juergens, Natalie Towe, Brianna Masten, Marissa Nolan, Danielle Pollock 

Back row: Jesse Nelson, Tom Smith, Kayla Wilson, Paige Namanny, Matthew Gerhold, Samantha Wenndt, Isaac Burris, Matthew Voss, Zach Steffen, Eli Miller, Keaton Kline, Aspen Auld, Cole Eppping, and Asst. Coach Theresa Thompson 

Absent: Sarah Cotton 

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