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Bigfork drama team takes first at Hamilton meet

by Jordan Dawson
| November 16, 2010 3:15 PM

 

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.