9 advance to regional UIL meet
Addison Asher qualified for regional in four journalism events at the University Interscholastic League District 8 Academic Spring Meet held at Hawley High School on Tuesday, March 26, and eight of her peers, including Sidney Bartee who earned first place in Science and also won the Top Biology award, will also advance to regional.
“I am very pleased and proud of our students,” said UIL coordinator Rick Davis. “They did great! We have five students who advanced and/or placed in multiple contests!”
Asher medaled and advanced in four events. Tana Thompson placed in four events and advanced in two. Alayna Koemel earned medals and advanced in three events. Hannah Trail medaled in three events and advanced in two. Caroline Masters medaled and advanced in two events.
Albany High students who qualified for the regional meet in one event include Braden Davis, Morgan Garcia, Christopher Rivera, and Bartee.
“Braden (Davis) was entered into the Current Issues and Events contest at the last second just to give us enough people to have a team – you need three,” said Rick Davis. “He ended up placing second!”
Individuals who place first, second, or third qualify for the regional UIL academic meet, as do all four members of first place winning teams.
Fourth place winners are alternates, but they have the opportunity to compete if one of the top winners has a conflict and is unable to participate.
Luke Ivy placed fourth and is the district alternate in Number Sense, while Tana Thompson, who was fourth in Feature Writing, is also an alternate in that event.
District Standings
AHS students collected 302 points to place third overall at district.
Haskell garnered 437 points to win the contest, and Cross Plains accumulated 410 for second. Rounding out the field were Stamford in fourth with 288, Roscoe (142 points) in fifth, and Hawley (66 points).
Albany students took the top spot in several categories including Copy Editing, Editorial Writing, Feature Writing, Headline Writing, News Writing, and Science. They also fielded the first place teams in Journalism and in Science.
Journalism Team
The AHS Journalism team won district, but unlike other first place teams, the journalism team as a whole doesn’t advance because members are in several separate events. However, they do earn team points for their school.
“The kids did really well at district,” said journalism sponsor Donnie Lucas. “Addi (Asher) qualified in four writing events for the second year in a row! In the new contest, Copy Editing, Albany got first and second, and in Editorial Writing we took first, second, and third, for a clean sweep of that event.”
Lucas added that Albany students claimed the majority of the journalism slots.
“We have someone advancing in 10 out of the 15 places,” Lucas said. “The regional meet is the most competitive, with 24 entries vying for each of the three spots that will move on to state, so I hope that our students will practice.”
According to Lucas, writing for a UIL meet is different than writing for the school newspaper, and even the experienced journalism students need to practice for the events in order to be able to do their best at the contest.
“At the UIL contest they work off of a written scenario, which is very different from conducting a live interview like our students are used to doing for the paper,” he said. “I’ve got several kids who have said that their goal is to make it to state. If they will practice, that goal is achievable.”
Regional Meet
The Region 1 academic meet is at Odessa College in Odessa on April 12-13, and all of the local students are scheduled to compete on Saturday, April 13.
“I’m excited to see how they place in Odessa,” said Rick Davis. “We have seven young ladies and two young men who are advancing to the regional meet.”
Davis explained that students who place first through third in Odessa will qualify for the next level of competition, along with everyone on first place teams, with the exception of the journalism team.
Members of the first place teams have a chance to place individually at regional, even if they didn’t land in the top spots at the district level, added Davis.
Event Results
The one-act play earned 28 points toward Albany’s district total at their competition earlier this month.
Individual and team results follow.
Copy Editing: 1. Tana Thompson, 2. Alayna Koemel, with both Thompson and Koemel advancing to regional.
Current Issues and Events: 2. Braden Davis, with Davis advancing to regional.
Second place Current Issues and Events team members were Braden Davis, Gregori Mikeska, and Kade Everitt.
Editorial Writing: 1. Hannah Trail, 2. Addison Asher, 3. Alayna Koemel, with all three advancing to regional.
Feature Writing: 1. Addison Asher, 2. Alayna Koemel, 4. Tana Thompson, with Asher and Koemel advancing to regional, and Thompson as the district alternate.
Headline Writing: 1. Tana Thompson, 3. Addison Asher, 6. Taylor Scott, with Thompson and Asher advancing to regional.
Mathematics: 5. Hannah Trail.
Second place Mathematics team members were Hannah Trail, Sidney Bartee, Alayna Koemel, and Max Balliew.
News Writing: 1. Addison Asher, 5. Jillian Guinn, with Asher advancing to regional.
Number sense: 2. Morgan Garcia, 4. Luke Ivy, with Garcia advancing to regional, and Ivy as the district alternate.
Third place Number sense team members were Morgan Garcia, Luke Ivy, Christopher Rivera, and Ty Everitt.
Prose Interpretation: 3. Caroline Masters, advancing to regional.
Ready Writing: 6. Tana Thompson.
First place Science team members were Sidney Bartee, Christopher Rivera, Hannah Trail, and Caroline Masters, with all four advancing to regional. Kade Everitt was the team alternate.
Top Biology score: 1. Sidney Bartee, advancing as an individual entry.
Science: 1. Sidney Bartee, 3. Christopher Rivera, 5. Hannah Trail, with Bartee and Rivera advancing as individuals.
Spelling and Vocabulary: 5. Jaleigh Morales.
Top regional winners and teams will go on to the state contest, which will be held on the University of Texas campus in Austin on May 2-4.
