It was a busy weekend for Wrangell Public Schools' autumn extracurricular programs, with the wrestling, volleyball, and humanities teams traveling to meets all over the Southeast.
The high school's Drama, Debate and Forensics competed in Haines Friday and Saturday.
“It went really well,” said Sydney Reed, the program's director.
Two groups progressed to the final round in the “Reader's Theater” and pantomime categories. Joseph Hommel, Amos Comstock, and Devin Till took sixth in the theater, and Tabitha Hommel and Karl Torgramsen took sixth in the panto.
Despite tough topics, Reed noted her students did very well in the “Extemporaneous Commentary” portion of the meet. In that, three topics were pulled from an envelope, with the team choosing one to deliver a speech on after only three-to-five minutes' preparation.
“The topics were ridiculously difficult,” said Reed, including rules and regulations of Alcatraz Prison and 12 requisites for survival.
“It's impressive as to what kids can come up with in such a short amount of time,” she said. “We got a lot of great feedback.”
Reed said the team is looking forward to its next meet, which will be hosted here in Wrangell on Nov. 14-15.
The Wolves volleyball team travelled to the All-Comers in Sitka this weekend, playing at Mt. Edgecumbe on Friday and Sitka High School Saturday.
“We were able to get a look at a lot of teams we don't usually get to see,” said the team's coach, Jessica Whitaker. Twelve varsity girls and most of the underclassmen were able to make the trip, and the varsity team seeded first in the silver bracket.
The team split with Klawock and contested closely with Petersburg. “That one was a pretty close match,” Whitaker commented. Mostly, she said the girls got a lot of good playing time in, showing improvement along the way.
“Overall, it was a good growing weekend,” she said. “They were able to improve quite a bit of their serving percentages,” in addition to improving the accuracy of their shots.
Whitaker's team has been improving defensively as well, keeping closer guard of the net.
“They're getting better controlling their passes,” she added.
The team will have time to rest up before the tournament in Tok on Nov. 7-8.
The Wolves wrestling team was in Juneau last weekend, taking second overall despite the team's size. Putting things in perspective, Wrangell sported ten wrestlers compared to Ketchikan's 25 and Mount Edgecumbe's 57.
“We were sandwiched between those two,” explained Jack Carney, Wrangell Public School's activities director. The team scored 194 points, just behind Ketchikan's 207.
“I was really happy with how they did.”
Jeffery Rooney Jr. and Caleb Groshong each placed first for their weight classes, and Chet Armstrong, Justus Mikkelsen and JD Barratt placed second.
Alissa Heller ended three of her five matches in pins.
“She's someone I'm expecting to do really well at State,” said Carney.
The team took off early yesterday for the state-wide tournament at Anchorage Christian Schools this weekend, which is generally a big predictor for the State Championship.
“Anybody who's anybody goes to this tournament,” Carney commented. With the way the Wolves have been playing so far, he expects they will do very well.
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