Townsend wins two in a row
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Two-time champ Maryville High School senior Hannah Townsend poses with her trophy from the Rockhurst tournament, where she took the tournament championship in Informative Speaking for the second week in a row. Townsend also broke to semifinals in program of oral interpretation, as did senior Emily Gascoigne and sophomore Natalie Mason.
Maryville High School senior Hannah Townsend is on a roll to start the speech and debate season.
After winning the championship in Informative Speaking at the Blue Springs tournament, Townsend followed it up with another stellar performance at the Rockhurst tournament in central Kansas City, winning the tournament championship in Informative Speaking once again.
Townsend said she felt some pressure during practices this week.
“It’s hard to win twice in a row,” Townsend said. “I felt confident going into the final round, though, because I knew I had good rankings going in.
“I also knew the speakers I was facing had good ranks too, though. I was a bit nervous.”
Townsend said winning for a second consecutive week to start the year felt good.
“I was more confident in my speech this time around,” Townsend said. “It feels good knowing there are a lot of judges who like my speech.”
Townsend’s good weekend was not limited to Informative, however; she also managed to break to semifinals in Program of Oral Interpretation.
Program of Oral Interpretation, otherwise known as POI, is an event where students take pieces from multiple forms of literature – drama, poetry, prose, etc. – and cut them into a 10-minute piece around a central theme. For Townsend, that theme centers around two mental illnesses.
“I talk about depression and schizophrenia in my piece,” Townsend said. “Depression is a lot more visible these days, but schizophrenia, even though it’s less visible, is still pretty impactful.
“The illnesses contrast, but the pieces I put together have optimistic endings.”
Senior Emily Gascoigne also broke to the semifinal round in POI, which recognizes the top 12 competitors in the event. Gascoigne said her piece dealt with plastic surgery.
“I talk about getting plastic surgery and the aftermath,” Gascoigne said. “In my pieces the parents made the decision to get their children plastic surgery, so it also deals with the conflict between the kids and their parents.”
It was the first weekend for Gascoigne’s POI, and she felt like it was a good weekend.
“I feel like I did well, but there’s always room for improvement,” Gascoigne said.
Sophomore Natalie Mason also found herself in the semifinal round of POI, performing a piece about children with cancer. She said she did POI for the first time at the national qualifier tournament last year and fell in love with the event.
This year, Mason has traveled to two tournaments in POI, and she’s doing better each time.
“I earned ones (the top rank) in first and second round this time,” Mason said. “I’m getting better with each performance.”
As the team prepares for the next tournament, Mason said it’s all about practice.
“I’m going to be practicing every day, making sure I improve,” Mason said. “I also need to work on getting into my piece more than I am now.”
Coach Trudy Kinman was extremely proud of her team’s performance this weekend.
“Everyone who came did really well,” Kinman said. “Frederic Goudge came with us, and he didn’t take a rank lower than a three in any of his rounds.
“The duo of Natalie and Frederic took threes in preliminary rounds, too. It was a great performance all around.”
The Maryville speech and debate team will be traveling to Park Hill High School in Kansas City this weekend before hosting its annual home tournament the following weekend.