PHS Forensics starts the season strong | My Phillips County Online

PHS Forensics starts the season strong

Published 01/25/2025

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On Saturday, January 25, the Phillipsburg High School forensics team travelled to Belleville to compete at the Republic County High School forensics tournament to get the new season started. As a team, Phillipsburg finished in second place with 209 points, just nine points behind Sylvan-Lucas. Wamego finished in third place.

Seven Phillipsburg entries qualified for state competition including Kaitlyn Rothe who placed 1st in poetry and 1st in humorous solo; Hannah Kennedy and Callie Leidig who placed 1st in duet action, Leidig who placed first in impromptu speaking, Lydia Walker who placed 2nd in prose and 2nd in extemporaneous speaking; and Jhett Johnson who placed 2nd in humorous solo.

Additional medalists include Callie Leidig who placed 3rd in oration; Hannah Wallker who placed 3rd in serious solo; Jhett Johnson who placed 4th in prose; James Kraushaar and Jhett Johnson who placed 4th in improvised duet acting; Skyla Russell who placed 4th in impromptu speaking; Hallie Jerby who placed 5th in humorous solo and 6th in serious solo; James Kraushaar who placed 6th in informative; and Kadence Grote who placed 6th in humorous solo.

Other team members who competed and helped add to the team point total are Carter Grote, Michael VanDerVeen, and Garrett Johnson.

"This was a good start to our season," Coach Kim Pakkebier said. "We have a lot of areas that need improvement, but I'm proud of our entire team for competing hard and representing Phillipsburg well."

Phillipsburg will compete again on Tuesday at Colby and Saturday at Rexford.

"We have three tournaments in this first eight days of the season. That's a full load and a great opportunity for our team to get some quality experience early in the season," Pakkebier said.