By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
Sitka High defended its titles at the state drama, debate and forensics tournament in Anchorage over the weekend, capturing Division II titles for drama, debate, forensics, and sweepstakes (overall), and the academic award.
Among the other honors, Christian Litten, who coaches the team with Amy Ainslie, won coach of the year, and senior Darby Osborne won student of the year.
Mt. Edgecumbe High School also traveled to Anchorage for the tournament and took home several honors. Those results will appear in a later edition of the Sentinel, along with the coach’s comments.
Sitka High
Sitka High finished with 117 overall points, well ahead of competitors in Division II, as well as Division I. Its nearest competitor in the division was Skagway with 33.
“We’ve always been over the years a pretty competitive team at state,” Litten told the Sentinel Monday.
“Most of the competition came from Southeast,” he said. “I think Southeast has done a good job creating a positive culture around DDF in the school and in our communities. Our programs are well known in our communities and supported.”
The pandemic put pressure on DDF programs in every school in the state, Litten noted. In Sitka he and co-coach Amy Ainslie kept DDF going through a year of virtual competitions last year, returning to in-person meets and travel this year. At the end of this season, the coaches were happy to be able to select a team of 15 for the state meet in Anchorage.
Family and friends of the Sitka High Drama Debate and Forensics Team greet the students and coaches at Sitka Rocky Gutierrez Airport Sunday evening. The Sitka High team placed first in the state competition this weekend, earning the school its sixth title trophy. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)
Litten knew the team was strong, but was pleased to see the kids do as well as they did. Prospects are bright for the coming years, but he and Ainslie are sad to be losing the seniors.
“It was the success we hoped for, but at the same time we’re losing a group of seniors who were special to Amy and me,” Litten said.
Osborne’s first place in informative speaking was her third win at state in a speaking event in her four years on the Sitka team. She said other high points for her in her final high school DDF meet were winning Student of the Year award and seeing Litten honored as Coach of the Year.
She and classmate Addie Poulson were third in readers theater with “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged),” and they reached quarterfinals as a team in public forum debate, along with two other Sitka pairs.
“Getting to perform alongside Addie – it was great to work with someone like her and perform at a high level – I really enjoyed that,” Osborne said.
Freshman Aiden LaFriniere was on a team with Ben Hedrick, Danica Majeski, Maia Capp and Sagan McLaughlin that took first in readers theater with “Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon.” LaFriniere teamed with Jamison Dunn for first in mime with a piece written by Dunn and Asa Dow. LaFriniere also took fifth in humorous interpretation.
“We’ve been doing well all year and put in a lot of time during practice” on the RT piece, he said. The main competition in readers theater all year was from the Skagway team, he noted.
“We cut things that didn’t work and dialed in the lines that really work and made people laugh,” he said.
Senior Izzy Williams, a rookie in DDF, took first in humorous interpretation for “A Dozen Red Flags,” and third in solo acting for “The Audition.”
Recalling the final scores for her performances and announcement of the winners, Williams said, “I was surprised.” She knew the pieces were strong but didn’t know how she would rank in the final standings.
“I was really happy,” she said, adding, “I’m really sad DDF is over and I’m sad I only did it for one year of high school.” Still, she’s looking forward to one more performance, her lead role in the upcoming school play.
One of the sophomores who came out strong was Felix Myers, with a first place in public forum debate (with Jamison Dunn), and third in readers theater, with Asa Dow and Addie Poulson. Myers was also first in speaker points in debate.
Describing the final rounds of public forum debate, Myers said he and Dunn “just kind of clicked in the last three debates.”
“Our strong thing was our crossfires – we had the speeches down,” he said. “I gave one of the best deconstructions in the final debates, and in every crossfire we fought so hard.”
Myers said he was pleased to see so much success by the team and his teammates and is looking forward to another season of competition next year.
Ainslie, the other coach of the squad, called the season “a breath of fresh air.”
“Being back to our travel schedule and have a full team,” Ainslie said. “It was great to have a team of more than 20 kids – it gives us options for different pieces to try. Having a full travel schedule breathed a lot of life into DDF again. And we had a strong group of seniors helped us pick up momentum quickly.”
She added that the younger members of the team had “excellent examples” in the junior and seniors “of what the best DDF looks like.”
“The important thing is we haven’t just built a strong team for a year – we’re continuing the legacy that we inherited,” Ainslie said. “We hope we’ve made our predecessors proud.”
SHS Results
Informative speaking – 1. Darby Osborne; 5. Isabelle Schmetzer
Original oratory – Jamison Dunn
Dramatic interpretation – 5. Isabelle Schmetzer.
Humorous interpretation – 1. Izzy Williams; 3. Sagan McLaughlin; 5. Aiden LaFriniere
Duo interpretation – 3. Addie Poulson and Darby Osborne; 4. Maia Capp and Sagan McLaughlin
Duet acting – 5. Danica Majeski and Sally Everson
Solo acting – 2. Sally Everson; 3. Izzy Williams.
Pantomime – 1. Jamison Dunn and Aiden LaFriniere; 4. Ben Hedrick, Rita Christianson, and Danica Majeski
Readers Theater: 1. Sagan McLaughlin, Maia Capp, Ben Hedrick, Danica Majeski, and Aiden LaFriniere
3. Addie Poulson, Asa Dow, and Felix Myers
Public forum speaker points: 1. Felix Myers, 6. Darby Osborne
Public Forum Debate: 1. Felix Myers and Jamison Dunn
Team Awards:
Division II Academic Award
Division II Drama State Champion
Division II Forensics State Champion
Division II Debate State Champion
Division II Overall Sweepstakes State Champion
Alaska DDF Coach of the Year: Christian Litten
Alaska DDF Student of the Year: Darby Osborne
Alaska Statewide
DDF Championships
Results
Domestic extemporaneous speaking: 1. Reed Davidson, South Anchorage. 2. Eduardo Gomez Horta, Ketchikan; 3. Lauren Olson, Ketchikan; 4. Ben Brosnahan, West Anchorage; 5. Ben Moisan, West Anchorage. 6. Leah Goodwin, Eagle River.
Dramatic Interpretation: 1. Cora Starks, Service; 2. Lucky Tiglao, Kodiak; 3. Irvin McKnight, East Anchorage; 4. Dee Melin, Kodiak; 5. Isabelle Schmetzer, Sitka; 6. Jaimelyn Mathes, Service. Finalist – Mary Grace Enriquez, Kodiak.
Duet Acting: 1. Gwen Luera and Lucky Tiglao, Kodiak; 2. Fiona Raasch and Hayden Raasch, Mt. Edgecumbe; 3. James Williams and M. Bethe, Metlakatla; 4. Dane Lester and Roey McCowan, West Anchorage, 5. Danica Majeski and Sally Everson, Sitka; 6. Lily Cowan and Thea Person, Homer.
Duo Interpretation
1. Callia Fielding and Tessa Murphy, Skagway; 2. Paige Turner and Tatum Sager, Skagway; 3. Addie Poulson and Darby Osborne, Sitka; 4. Maia Capp and Sagan McLaughlin, Sitka; 5. Emmy Counceller and Scout DeVries, Kodiak.
Extemp Commentary: Rowan Campbell, Chugiak; 2. Chloe Gosnell, Ketchikan; 3. MacKenzie Burke, Kodiak; 4. Chloe McKay, Dimond; 5. Hailey Pierce, Chugiak.
Foreign Extemporaneous Speaking: 1. Atigun Pensely, Mt. Edgecumbe; 2. Lillian Yang, West Anchorage; 3. Bella Kershaw, Ketchikan; 4. Braxton Zink, Ketchikan; 5. Ethan Madsen, Thunder Mountain.
Humorous Interpretation: 1. Izzy Williams, Sitka; 2. Emalyn Peterson, Service; 3. Sagan McLaughlin, Sitka; 4. Emily Ross, Lumen Christi High School; 5. Aiden LaFriniere, Sitka.
Informative Speaking: 1. Darby Osborne, Sitka; 2. Callia Fielding, Skagway; 3. Braxton Zink, Ketchikan; 4. Madisen Lundamo, Ketchikan; 5. Isabelle Schmetzer, Sitka; 6. Lillian Yang, West Anchorage.
Lincoln Douglas Debate: 1. Reed Davidson, South Anchorage; 2. Andora Ovsepyan, Dimond.
Original Oratory: 1. Charley Burke, Kodiak; 2. Emalyn Peterson, Service; 3. Jamison Dunn, Sitka; 4. Mary Kim, West Anchorage; 5. Andora Ovsepyan, Dimond.
Pantomime: 1. Aiden LaFriniere and Jamison Dunn, Sitka; 2. Madeline Germain and Rina Basaliso, Thunder Mountain; 3. Dee Melin and MacKenzie Burke, Kodiak; 4. Ben Hedrick, Danica Majeski and Rita Christianson, Sitka; 5. Ben Brosnahan, Dane Lester, Ella Johanknecht and Manning Zhang, Neil Brown and Harrison Little Steeves and Roey McCowan, West Anchorage; 6. Alex Franklin, Homer.
Policy Debate: 1. Katie Bednar and Malina Kleinschmidt, Eagle River; 2. Anna Kardashyan and Daniel McConnell, South Anchorage.
Public Forum Debate: 1. Felix Myers and Jamison Dunn, Sitka; 2. Dane Lester and Ella Johanknecht, West Anchorage.
Readers Theater: 1. Aiden LaFriniere, Ben Hedrick, Danica Majeski, Maia Capp and Sagan McLaughlin, Sitka; 2. Athena Smith, Callia Fielding, Paige Turner, Tatum Sager and Tessa Murphy, Skagway; 3. Addie Poulson, Asa Dow and Felix Myers, Sitka; 4. Charley Burke and MacKenzie Burke, Kodiak; 5. Anna Kardashyan, Calvin Ureda, Declan Meeks and Mathias Schmidt, South Anchorage High School; 6. April Wyatt, Fiona Raasch and Marissa Crabtree, Mt. Edgecumbe.
Solo Acting: 1. Cora Starks, Service; 2. Sally Everson, Sitka; 3. Izzy Williams, Sitka; 4. Kody Witherow, Kodiak; 5. Lydia McDougall, Chugiak; 6. Roxanne Tena, Kodiak.
