Hinsdale Central’s Forensics speech team competed in three tournaments on Saturday, Nov. 12. The meets were divided by level, with the novice, jv, and varsity teams competing in three separate tournaments– Downers Grove South, Mount Prospect, and Wheaton North, respectively. The team had multiple members place between 1st and 6th at each level, many of them winning their designated events.
Among the team’s champions was Garrett Weaver, sophomore, who placed first in Prose Reading (PR) and third in Humorous Duet Acting (HDA) at the jv meet. Weaver notes the amount of work that goes into having a successful meet. “The biggest challenge of competing in a meet is remembering my lines and staging,” he said. “For practice in Prose I read my piece lots of times to try to memorize the whole thing. Then in HDA my partner and I always run through our staging to make sure we get it right,”
Christine Hawn, junior, also had success at the jv tournament. Hawn placed first in both events she entered: Humorous Interpretation (HI) and Poetry Reading (PO). Hawn, a new member to the Varsity team, notes the difficulty in leaving the Novice level. “Varsity is a lot more difficult because everyone competing is much more experienced,” she said. “Competing on Varsity is a whole new level.”
Hawn also notes the differences in the meet organization from level to level. “jv and novice tournaments are a little different because they don’t have final rounds,” she said. “They just go straight to the awards ceremony after round 3, so there are a lot of ties.”
With success under their belt from the early meets, both Weaver and Hawn are optimistic about the rest of the season. “The team is looking pretty good,” Hawn said. “Our new Novices are doing really well and our Varsity is still getting underway but I think we’ll do well.”
For Weaver, success at the meets is not his top priority. “My goal for the season is just to have as much fun as I can,” he said. “My teammates are such a fun group to hang out with, so I think that won’t be a problem.
The Forensics team has their next round of tournaments on Saturday, Nov. 19.
