LHS Speech & Debate
Lovejoy Speech and Debate hosted the NSDA LBJ District National Qualifying Tournament this past weekend. About 14 schools joined us at LHS and all competed to represent the LBJ District and Texas at the NSDA National Tournament in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida this June for the chance to become National Champions.
LHS Speech & Debate won the team award for Debate Sweepstakes team.
Congratulations on qualifying to compete at Nationals:
Grant Dennis & Luke Wheatley - National Qualifier in Duo Interpretation
Collins Morgan - National Qualifier in LD Debate
Clay Parker - National Qualifier in Humorous Interpretation
Pierce Richardson & Dayton Thompson - National Qualifier in PF Debate
Seth Roundtree & Rithik Tangella - National Qualifier in PF Debate
Congratulations on being selected to compete as a Nationals Qualifier in World Schools Debate:
Jack Czyz
Kaya Czyz
Tajvir Singh
Andrew Mao
Congratulations to the following students that made it to "out rounds" in their event:
Raheel Ahmed - OO Semi Finalist
Grant Dennis - POI Finalist
Andrew Evins - Humorous Interpretation Finalist
Zach Farrell - Extemporaneous Speaking Finalist
Sean Gassman & Gavin George - DUO Interpretation Semi Finalists
Ariel Kokoricha - Big Question Debate Quarter Finalist
Ariel Kokoricha & Melody Quintero - DUO Semi Finalist
Garrett Larson & Shalin Mehta - PF Debate Octo Finalist
Andrew Mao - Big Question Debate Semi Finalist
Justin Maroney - Informative Speaking Semi Finalist & Extemporaneous Speaking Semi Finalist
Clay Parker - POI Finalist
Melody Quintero - Humorous Interpretation Semi Finalist
Shivani Radhakrishnan - Humorous Interpretation Finalist
Anna Rouse - Extemporaneous Speaking Semi Finalist & OO Semi Finalist
Tajvir Singh - Extemporaneous Speaking Semi Finalist
Luke Wheatley - Dramatic Interpretation Finalist
Kaeli Wilburn - POI Finalist, OO Semi Finalist
Thank you so much for all of your help and support in making this year such a success! Now on our way to TFA State in March! Let's go team!!!!
LHS Wrestling
We wrestled our last three duals this past Friday to help get us ready for our varsity district tournament on February 8th. Our men wrestled well and got to see some tough competition in McKinney Boyd, Plano East, and Prosper. We will not see Boyd or Plano East the rest of the year, as they are 6A schools. Prosper, however, is a 5A school and we will see some of these same opponents at the state tournament in Cypress in a few weeks. These matches will serve as a good experience for that time!
Our women wrestled very well once again-winning six out of the seven matches while competing against Rockwall, Prosper, and Boyd! Our three girls, Lilly Musselman, Katherine Heath, and Alex LeFort, dominated with five of the wins by pin!
Pictured above, sophomore Katherine Heath working to break down her opponent on her way to the win by fall.
Pictured below, sophomore Alex LeFort works to bar an arm of her opponent before winning by pin.
Pictured above, Junior Lilly Musselman shown on her way to another win, defeating her Prosper opponent.
For a complete summary to these matches, please click the following:
Our men's team wrestled well at times, but could only win one of the three duals. That brings our dual season to a close. We finished the season with an overall dual record of 11-8.
The following wrestlers all finished the day winning two of three matches for the Leopards: Senior James Ayers; Junior Johnny Dorlon; Sophomores Alex Vislosky, David Gold, and Joe Ridgeway; and Freshmen Jakob Underwood, Ralph Rucker and Kyle Ross.
Pictured below, Senior James Ayers stacks his Boyd opponent on his way to a first period pin.
Boyd dual: We lost a tough dual to Boyd by a score of 48-26. We had a couple of close matches go the other way that would have helped us stay in this dual.
Here is the link to the dual:
Prosper dual: Prosper was by far one of the better teams we have faced this year. They won the 5A dual state championship a couple weeks ago and they showed why, defeating us by a score of 48-19.
Pictured above, sophomore Alex Vislosky looks to the official to confirm his win by pin over Prosper.
For the complete results from this dual, please click below:
Plano East dual: Lovejoy bounced back nicely to defeat Plano East, 52-18. We had some of our young wrestlers really step up in this dual, including key wins from freshman Kyle Ross and sophomores Joe Ridgeway and Alex Vislosky. For complete match results, please click on the link below:
Above, freshman Kyle Ross works for the pin against Plano East.
Below, Sophomore Joe Ridgeway en route to a fall against Plano East.
LHS Bowling
The bowling team had an important match against Plano East High School last week. Boys' varsity is currently in a 3-way tie with Plano East & Wylie for 3rd place in District and Girls' varsity is tied for 3rd place with Plano East.
Boys' varsity won 11-4, while the Girls' varsity barely lost 7-8.
Our bowlers had some incredible scores during last week's match. Please congratulate the following bowlers on these (not so easy) accomplishments!
With only 2 weeks left in the season, our bowlers will be bowling their fingers off as they continue to fight for a place at Regionals.
Computer Science Team
The annual Digital Diva's Computer Science Programming Competition and Expo was held at McKinney High School on Saturday, Feb. 3rd. The Lovejoy Computer Science team was well represented with 4 teams of young ladies. The team of Katherine Guo, Katie Rink and Ruiyi He placed second in the Advanced Division. This was the first competition for most them and they competed very well against stiff competition from around the DFW area.
LHS Tennis
The Lovejoy J.V. and Varsity tennis team were both in action last week. The J.V. team brought home the team championship at the Grapevine Invitational winning 2 draws and finished 2nd in three other draws.
Nathan Drew and Ryan Talmage won the Boys Doubles Championship
Kate Flaggert and Arushi Gupta won the Girls Doubles Championship
Alex Perry/Noah Brown - 2nd Mixed Doubles
Jack McPherson - 2nd Boys Singles
Sophie Hanna - 2nd Girls Singles
The Varsity team participated in the Ennis Tournament and won two draws as well. Congrats to Samantha Hayward/Daniela Benigno for winning the Girls' Doubles Championship making it back to back Tournament Championships! Both of our mixed doubles teams made it to the Championship with Brandon Su/Polly Roth winning a very close match verses Carson Zimmermann/Abby Sibson.
LHS Choir
LHS Choir hosted UIL Solo & Ensemble this past Saturday, February 3rd. We had approximately 400 performers in our building from Region 25, and it was also a very successful day for our singers! Lovejoy HS brought home 77 medals for first division ratings, and there were 16 State-qualifying soloists and 3 State-qualifying ensembles.
Congratulations to the following soloists for their Superior (1st division) ratings:
Tessa Blasko
Colette Brooks
Devon Cantu
Katherine Carter
Joey Chavez
Julia Dobbs
Stephen Godfrey
Faith Isakson
Kyra Jacobs
Alison Jobes
Claire Johnson
Noah Johnson
Maddie Konecny
Andrew Mao
Alex McCaffity
Claire McLaren
Shalin Mehta
Mandy Rickett
Marcie Sawyers
Mikayla Slatten
Hallie Steadman
Catherine Stewart
Allie Straeck
Emmy Straeck
Katie Strand
Kennedy Trythall
Kendall Vaughn
Luke Wild
Nathan York
Arturo Yundt-Pacheco
And congratulations to the ensembles who earned Superior (1st division) ratings:
Viva Tutti: Devon Cantu, Joey Chavez, Dylan Collins, Christian Cortez, David Gold, Jacob Huettner, Aaron Johnson, Andrew Mao, Dayton Stammen, Arturo Yundt-Pacheco
Il mio Martir: Colette Brooks, Mary Edgar, Katherine Guo, Kelsey Mannewitz, Marcie Sawyers
Poor Man Laz'rus: Alex Doran, Cy Feagin, Logan Harris, Mason Hutchins, Gideon Jowers, Alec Trythall, Alec Welhouse
Adoramus Te: Elese Abney, Tessa Blasko, Kylie Cass, Taylor Crosby, Grace Flinchbaugh, Claire Johnson
Fa una canzona: Emma Allen, Faith Isakson, Kyra Jacobs, Maggie James, Jaelyn Reeves, Emily Rippy, Aubrie Shinedling, Emmy Straeck, Madison Valdez
Weep, O Mine Eyes: Julia Dobbs, Stephen Godfrey, Lindsay Haden, Alison Jobes, Noah Johnson, Lauren LaTour, Connor Martin, Shalin Mehta, Allie Straeck
Back from L to R: Hallie Steadman, Katie Strand, Kennedy Trythall, Stephen Godfrey, Mandy Rickett
Front from L to R: Catherine Stewart, Lindsay Haden, Allie Straeck, Katherine Carter
Lady Leopard Basketball
The Lady Leopards played their last home game of the season on Friday night vs Mesquite Poteet. Before the game, all of the seniors and their parents were recognized for their contributions to the program. The Lady Leopards have 10 seniors on the team this year. It the biggest senior class in Lady Leopard Basketball history! We want to wish the following seniors continued success as they are just a few months ago from graduation.
Meredith Ehlmann
Autumn Purcell
Kaylee Rekieta
Kim Lyne
Meredith Welch
Taylor Meixelsperger
Tori Hanson
Roni Hanson
Bethany Smith
Mikayla Dohmann