Blair forensics team ranked third in county

Blair's forensics team was declared the third best in Montgomery County at the Montgomery County Forensics League's Thirtieth Annual Awards Evening at Richard Montgomery High School Wednesday March 26. A Blair sophomore also received five significant honors and awards and a Blair senior won one award.

Sophomore Abigail Fraeman was honored with the Outstanding Speaker Award, awarded to only one in the over 150 forensics participants throughout the county. She was also one of seven recipients of the Outstanding Achievement Awards. Outstanding Achievement Awards are given to students whose performances qualified for over five categories. Fraeman qualified for six, but was only able to perform three in the final tournament on Saturday March 22. For her three performances, Fraeman won second place for humorous interpretation and for children's literature and fifth place for informative speaking. The master of ceremony, Walter Johnson forensics coach, Rusty McCrady, singled out Fraeman's achievements as an exceptional "great achievement."

Out of the seventeen high schools that competed in the tournament, Walter Johnson won first place, Northwest second, Blair third, Magruder fourth, Churchill fifth, and Damascus sixth. The Blair team feels that their third place ranking is a great accomplishment considering their small number of the members; Walter Johnson and Northwest have at least thirty members each and Blair has eight.

Blair's other finalist, senior Annie Peirce, won fifth place out of nine competitors in the category of dramatic interpretation. Seniors Elizabeth Leonard and Amanda Way and junior Elizabeth Finn also participated in the tournament, but due to tough competition were unable to qualify for the final round of the tournament.

According to former Blair forensics coach Richard Rhodes, this is the second time that Blair has ever placed in the top sixth. Blair placed fourth in the rankings last year. This is only the third year that Blair has placed any students into the finals. The team is confident that Blair will continue to be a power in Montgomery County forensics. However, the majority of the team is seniors and the team and its sponsor, social studies teacher Cassandra Heath, are heavily encouraging more students to join and be a part of the team.