|Photo provided| Armed with their individual trophies from the weekend, the Wheeling Park High Speech and Debate team celebrated their 45th straight state championship, won at West Virginia University.

WHEELING – The Wheeling Park High School speech and debate team now owns its 45th consecutive state championship.

Team members came home victorious Saturday night after once again reigning supreme at the state competition, which took place on the campus of West Virginia University on Thursday through Saturday evening.

Not only did the team take first place in the Overall Speech Sweepstakes for the 45th time, but members also captured 14 individual state championships during the competition.

Coaches Jenn Mathieu, Isabella Droginske and Kayla Nelson released a joint statement following the successes of the speech team.

“The team and coaches are beyond proud that all of our hard work has paid off for our 45th consecutive state championship,” they said. “Each year, the team starts working in the summer and all throughout the year to ensure we continue this legacy of success. And our work is not done yet, we are off to Nationals in Chicago and Louisville, Kentucky. We couldn’t do this without the generous support of our administration, the board of education, our volunteer judges, and team parents.”

Those bringing home awards were the following:

– Ariauna Friend, state champion: Lincoln-Douglas Debate; and overall speaker Lincoln-Douglas debate

– Josephine Gilbert, state champion: public forum debate

-Jana Schodzinski, state champion: student congress; state champion: extemporaneous speaking; 6th place: impromptu speaking; 3rd place: poetry interpretation.

– Levi Powell, state champion: humorous/dramatic interpretation; state champion: original oratory; 2nd place: poetry interpretation

– Morgan Graski, state champion: public forum debate

– McKenna Guthoerl, state champion: declamation; 2nd place: prose interpretation

– Kesley Holeczy, state champion: oral interpretation of literature; 3rd place: impromptu speaking

– Maliah Miskiewicz, state champion: programme oral interpretation; 2nd place: duo interpretation; 2nd place: humorous/dramatic interpretation

– Grace Mull, 4th place: informative speaking

– Carter Bauer, 4th place: humorous/dramatic interpretation; 2nd place: duo interpretation

– Khadija Rizwan, state champion: informative speaking; 5th place: extemporaneous speaking

– Ella Wheeler, state champion: SPAR Debate

– Alexander Fabrizio, 3rd place: informative speaking

– Ciera Faulstick, 4th place: programme oral interpretation; 3rd place: broadcasting, 3rd place: duo interpretation

– Cash Givens, 3rd place: extemporaneous speaking

– Miriam Halicki, 6th place: SPAR debate

– Audrey Kenamond, 3rd place: oral interpretation of literature; 2nd place: declamation

– Siyan Lopez, state champion: prose interpretation; 4th place: poetry interpretation

– Will Medovic, 5th place: poetry interpretation; 4th place: impromptu speaking

– Gianna Mills, 6th place: broadcasting; 4th place: declamation

– Ava Norman, 4th place: student congress

– Grace Robertson-Villamagna, 3rd place: duo interpretation; 3rd place: original oratory; 3rd place: humorous/dramatic interpretation; top speaker individual events

– Landen Smeltz, 6th place: humorous/dramatic interpretation

– Joeyana Strothers, 6th place: prose interpretation

– Nathan Tyska, 4th place: Lincoln-Douglas debate

– Bridget Zoeckler, 3rd place: semi-finalist, Lincoln-Douglas Debate

Additional members contributing to the teams 45th consecutive state championship win were

Cameron Fullerton, Jerome Maynard, Paige Jones, Anna Contraguerro, Clara Demasi, Emma Seibert, Mackenzie Kret and Katelyn Smith.