Century Club Grows at Portage

Saturday's tournament saw more students enter the Century Club by earning at least one 1/100 in a round. This week, team members brought home 12 top scores:

Duo: Wilson/Quinn -- 4 (!)
Multiple: Jekyll & Hyde -- 3!
Extemp: Michael Schafer -- 3!
Impromptu: Sara Oliai --1
Informative: Colin Tokarek -- 1

A Second Trophy

Saturday's event at Portage Northern was again satisfying for City High. With 9 of 22 schools in the "Large School" Category, City High took third in Sweepstakes points, behind Grand Rapids Christian and Portage Central. (As host, Portage Northern was ineligible for sweepstakes trophies. But boy oh boy did they make their presence felt. )

To earn third place, City had four entries in the finals:

Sara Olia took 6th in Impromptu

Cooper Wilson and Corine Quinn, aka Wilson/Quinn, came in 4th in Duo, while picking up 4 1/100 of a possible 8. Way to go!

Michael Schafer placed 3rd in Extemp, with a strong performance including 3 1/100s, and 4 2/99s.

And the Multiple (Jekyll & Hyde) took 2nd overall, including taking a 1/100 in the final round.

And it wasn't just the final round...
Other students also enjoyed success. First time performer Jessica Miller (Poetry) made it to the semi-finals, as did Storyteller Julia Stuart, who also was in the semis at Christian last week.

Also in the semis were two Informative presentations: Riet Groenleer (Food Styling) and senior Colin Tokarek (Oil). Like Stuart, Riet had also made the semi's at Christian.

We also had two other first time performers: Emily Witte (Storytelling) and Katie Barber (Storytelling).

Century Club Now Open

The Century Club honors those who score 1/100 in one of their rounds. Saturday at Grand Rapids Christian, three team members were able to achieve this -- no doubt we'll see plenty more as the season continues.

In two meets students from City High School have earned 16 first place finishes:

Jacinda Bowman, Poetry: GR Christian,
Sara Oliai, Impromptu: GR Christian, Portage Northern
Robby Saldaña, Oratory: GR Christian (2x)
Wilson/Quinn, Duo: Portage Northern (4x)
Jekyll & Hyde, Multiple: Portage Northern (3x)
Michael Schafer, Extemp: Portage Northern (3x)
Colin Tokarek, Informative: Portage Northern

Peak Ahead to WOHO

On March 17 we travel over to West Ottawa HS for our third invitational of the season.

More data will follow but right now, here's who we have competing (* first time):

• Broadcast -- Nathan Ritsema, Andrew Hopewell
• Extemp -- Michael Schafer, Reggie Pell, Christina Le (dual enroll)
  
• Impromptu -- Christian Le (dual enroll), Sara Oliai
• Informative -- Riet Groenleer, Jesse Holwerda
• Oratory -- Robby Saldaña, Casandra Caceres
• Sales 9/10 -- Esther Creswell*, Sharon Hay*, Rebecca Hansen*
• Dramatic Interp -- Alisa Stone, Brandy Andresen
• Dramatic Interp 9/10-- Celeste Kessler
• Duo -- Reames/Kleinschmidt, Gilles/VandenBerg
• Poetry -- Jacinda Bowman, Gerald Polanco
• Prose -- Zoe Ashmead, Brandon Newton, Danielle Barber*
• Storytelling -- Julia Stuart, Emily Witte, Lily Russell*
• Multiple -- Jekyll & Hyde

Off to Portage

This Saturday is our second meet of the Invitational season: Portage Northern.
Like other years, this will be big: there are 22 schools registered! Generally the rounds tend to be large with 6 or so per round. This makes for a long round. Be ready with some bottled water and snacks to keep you going through the first three rounds.

Speaking of Food
There will be some breakfast food available when you arrive. Lunch is offered in the Cafeteria after the third round. The food is a mixture of items (pizza, yogurt, fruit, etc.), all reasonably priced. After the Invitational we will stop for a bite and review our scores. At Portage Northern, this usually has meant going to Fazolis.

Our Schedule
6:30 a.m. -- Arrive at City
7:00 a.m. -- Leave City
8:00 a.m. -- Arrive at Portage Northern
8:30 a.m. -- General Meeting
8:55 a.m. -- Round I begins
5:30 p.m. -- Awards
6:30 p.m. -- Stop for Dinner (Fazoli's or something). Review scorees
7:30 p.m. -- Leave Portage/Kalamazoo
8:30 p.m. -- Arrive at City. Still in time for the auction!


Who's Going?
Here is who we have going (* first time):

• Broadcast -- Nathan Ritsema
• Extemp -- Michael Schafer,Yefei Jin
• Impromptu -- Sara Oliai, Christina Le
• Informative -- Colin Tokarek, Riet Groenleer
• Oratory -- Casandra Caceres
• Poetry -- Jessica Miller
• Prose -- Zoe Ashmead
• D. I.-- Alisa Stone
• D.I. 9/10 -- Celeste Kessler
• Storytelling -- Julia Stuart, Katie Barber *, Emily Witte *
• Duo -- Reames / Kleinschmidt, Wilson / Quinn
• Multiple -- Jekyll & Hyde