Bigfork drama team takes first at Hamilton meet
Bigfork High School had less than half
of its 25 speech and drama participants available to compete
Saturday at the Hamilton Invitational, but those present were still
able to take first place in drama and second place in speech among
Class B schools.
Six students were missing due to the
Bigfork Playhouse Children’s Theatre production, three others were
unavailable due to cheerleading and football duties Saturday, and
the other four were unable to attend for various other reasons.
With the majority of the team’s
veterans not at the meet, Bigfork was led by newcomers and
underclassmen.
Freshman Maddie Lorang had the team’s
best finish as she earned second place in Memorized Public
Address.
“The biggest surprise that wasn’t a
surprise was how well Maddie Lorang did,” said Charlie Appleby, who
is Bigfork’s head speech and drama coach. “She has been working
incredibly hard and deserves her placing, but usually freshmen
don’t place that high, especially in MPA.”
Also placing well at the meet was
Gwendolyn Fratt, who took fifth in Humorous Solo, Amber McDaniel
placed sixth in Serious Solo, Shelby Biedermann finished eighth in
Serious Solo and Chris Grilley was eighth in Mime.
“I was really impressed by my newbies
this week, as Chris Grilley and Maddie Lorang managed to make
finals and Maddie took second in a really tough event,” Appleby
said.
Although Appleby was proud of his
team’s top finishes at the meet, which was just its second of the
season, he is hoping to keep seeing improvements.
“Several people could have and even
should have made it to finals, and a few of my finalists didn’t
perform as well as they normally do in finals, which gave them a
lower place then they perhaps deserved,” Appleby said. “All of this
meant we didn’t get as many sweeps points (team categories) as we
could have. That being said, we did great overall. I suppose I just
want great things for the kids.”
The Bigfork team will compete next
after Thanksgiving Break on Dec. 3 and 4 in Corvallis.