All three local high schools have strong showing at State Literary competitions
GCHS Literary Team wins third straight State Title, this year in Class-AA
The Gordon Central High School Literary team won the AA State Literary Team title on Saturday, March 18 at Houston County High School in Warner Robins.
Before a crowd of supportive parents, students, alumni and friends, the GC Literary team did battle in nine of the twelve events, earning individual titles in Girls Trio, Boys Quartet, Humorous Dramatic Interpretation and Duo Dramatic Interpretation. They also earned points in four other events by placing in the top four positions to earn 42 team points to Davidson Fine Arts High School’s 40 points.
This is Gordon Central’s third state team title in the last three years, earning the AAA team title in 2015 and 2016. “We knew moving to the AA division would bring new teams and we were unsure of the level of our new competitors,” said Dr. Kim Watters, head coach for the team.
The Gordon Central results were as follows:
Girls Trio (Katie Nemechek, Elizabeth Dutch and Katelyn Jones) State AA Champions
Boys Quartet (Sammy Tomasello, Matthew Sloan, Mason Dockrey and Brandon Bagley) State AA Champions
Humorous Interpretation (Baylee Balliew) State AA Champion
Duo Interpretation (Baylee Balliew and Ariel Brown) State AA Champions
Drama t ic Interpretation (Mason Dockrey) Third Place
Girls Solo (Katelyn Jones) First Runner-up
Boys Solo (Ryan Morrell) Sixth Place
Domes t ic Extemporaneous Speaking ( Sammy Tomasello) First Runnerup
International Extemporaneous Speaking ( Haven Hendrix) Fourth Place
“It was a pretty remarkable day,” said Watters. “Senior Baylee Balliew won two individual titles. Baylee was the AAA Humorous Champion from 2016, so we knew she was capable of delivering.”
With t he announcement of Boys Quartet, Gordon Central pulled within two points of Davidson Fine Arts, but they were still leading. The result of the Humorous title tied the two teams. “Baylee and Ariel’s win in Duo pushed us past them,” said Watters. “It was an incredible finish.”
Literary is a Georgia High School Association event consisting of music, drama, speaking and writing categories. Meets are held in the eight regions of each state classification. The annual state event sets the eight region winners of their respective classifications against each other in a one day contest.
“I could not be more excited for these hardworking Warriors,” said Watters. “These students dedicate themselves to excellence in everything they do and it has paid off richly this year. Many of them have earned state titles in both One Act and Literary this year. I know they are proud and I know all our coaches are, too.”
In addition to being the head coach, Watters coaches the Trio and Quartet. Renee Hughes coaches the extemporaneous speakers. Richard Bristow coaches the drama events. Brian Hall coaches the writing events. Vicky Latimer of Belwood Elementary coaches soloist, Katelyn Jones and soloist, Ryan Morrell was coached by Dr. Salter of Reinhardt University.