October 24th, 2009
The Bronx Prep Speech team attended its first NYCFL league tournament over the weekend and saw big success from the veterans, while the rest of the squad helped flesh out a team that was represented in nearly every main event offered for competition.
In a stark contrast to last season, in which zero seniors competed for the Bronx Prep team all year, on Saturday five seniors were entered in the tournament, which was held at Regis and Loyola High Schools on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Keegon Robinson (Varsity OI), Chris Moncrief (Original Oratory), Deborah Allen-Carr and Tayshawn Layton (Duo Interpretation) and Ingrid Villafrance all represented the class of 2010, with Mr. Moncrief and the team of Layton/Allen-Carr reaching the final round. The ladies finished tied with the second-best point total on the day, but tiebreakers put them in 5th place, while Chris finished in 2nd place - good enough to earn him a half-qualification for the State Championship tournament in April. Team Captain Keegon Robinson posted a first place finish in his third round and first-time competitor Ingrid may have been bitten by the speech bug - rumors abound that she may compete in Student Congress at an upcoming tournament.
Rounding out the team were Alethea Brown, making her 09-10 debut and showing strong potential playing four Crown Heights residents in the category of Dramatic Performance and rookie sensation Norberto Troncoso who competed in Extemporaneous Speaking - researching, memorizing and performing three seven-minute speeches, each in only a half hour!
With competitors in five different events, this is the most diverse Bronx Prep team to compete locally in several years - a good sign for a team looking to expand its presence and its numbers on the local scene.
Special thanks to Mr. Dude - Matthew Simon - for once again proving his dedication to the team by judging three rounds and to Ms. Halie Berson and Mr. John Aronson, the team's other judge and observer judge, respectively. This pair even showed up with bagels which the team reported were, "really good".
One more league tournament on November 14th, before the showdown in Philly that is the Villiger Tournament the following weekend. Also on the horizon is the Patriot Games Classic - the perenially expanding one-of-a-kind tournament at George Mason University.
Stay tuned for a report on the JV squad's intra-team competition, to be held at the school on October 28th.
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