Speech Team takes Whole Team to State

By Alyssa Bissell

Watch out, State Speech! Interstate 35 has every member of their team preparing for total domination at the state contest, March 17 in Ames. This past weekend, the district speech tournament went extremely well for the speech members of Interstate 35. Out of twenty six speeches, twenty four of them were state speech material, and everyone on the team will get the privilege of going to state this year.



For the seniors Justin Pontier, Mariah Lewis, Alex Bertrand, Andrew Morris, Marie Bosworth, and Kaley Chicoine, this was their last time to be able to experience the state contest.

Justin Pontier is returning for his fourth year. He has also made it to the All-State Festival at UNI every year of his high school career. Fellow teammate Mariah Lewis is returning for her third year. These speakers have already enjoyed success going to the large group All-State festival along Kaley Chicoine and Megan Ellis.

It’s easy to see that we have some pretty talented veterans on the speech team, however, the underclassmen are also making a difference on the team. Juniors Travis Thornburgh, Kendall Hildebrand, Shelby Spoerl, Megan Ellis, Katie Jacobsen, and sophomores Brittany Mease, Sarah Yawn, and Claire Bertrand all made it through this year with a hopeful comeback for next year.

Impressively, the freshman members Bailee Huddleson, Riley Wearmouth, and Josh Hughes are going as well. Most speech teams are lucky to have a few members make it to state, let alone the entire team!

The speech team will test their speaking skills yet again this weekend at the Walnut Hill Speech contest. This is an invitational tournament pitting some of the best speakers in the state. This contest takes place in Coach Mehrhoff’s home school located in Anita, Iowa. The speakers are looking to improve on last years performances where they placed fourth out of 16 teams while only taking eight speakers. They are looking to take the whole team this year and taking on much larger schools like Ankeny and Council Bluffs Lewis Central.

Rich Gray Results and Conference Dual Championships

By Kyle Rupp

I-35 grapplers wrestled at the Rich Gray Classic on January 21. The team ended up fourth out of 16 teams. Head Coach Randy Calvert stated the Classic was “the biggest tournament in years” and was filled with stiff competition. “For a young team, we wrestled well.” said Coach Mehrhoff. He continued that the wrestlers’ performance was the “best individual wrestling at this meet so far.”
Junior Tommy Bregar brought home a title at 182, with a second place finish by Brad Yakle at 106.
Ethan Jones turned in a 3rd place at 170. Fourth place finishes were Lonnie Harper at heavy weight and Tyler Lester at 220. Todd Graham at 195 and Zach Hutton at 126 placed fifth.

The wrestlers also finished the dual season going undefeated against POI Conference foes.

Interstate takes the Coaches for Cancer Game

By Kyle Rupp

Interstate 35 boys’ basketball regular season is almost over. They have a current record of 9-8.

The team recently played Central Decatur on Saturday and Pleasantville last Tuesday.

During the "Coaches For Cancer" game against the Cardinals, the Roadrunners took control of the game from the start and never looked back blasting the home town team by thirty points.

Then on Tuesday the Interstate 35 boys’ basketball team had a heart breaking loss to Pleasantville with a 40 point loss. There are only three games left in the regular season. If they want to play more games they are going to have to step up their game. Good luck this post season boys and keep up working hard.

Sulentic reaches 1,000 Points

By Kyle Rupp

The Interstate 35 High School Girls varsity team had a tough set of games but ended their drought against Pleasantville, Tuesday, January 31st.

The Lady Roadrunners lost a squeaker against Murray. They were down by 1 point with a few seconds remaining when Senior Olivia Sulentic put up a jump shot at the buzzer which rolled around the rim but didn’t fall.

Next, the Roadrunners ran into a Corning Red Raider squad who are currently fourth in the conference. It was an up and down game which the Roadrunner stayed with the Red Raiders but in the end lost 39 to 43. During the game, Senior Olivia Sulentic became the first Interstate hoopster in the 5 on 5 era to score over 1000 points in her career.

On a rare Saturday night game, the ladies ventured to Leon for Coaches against Cancer game. The Roadrunners could not match the 12 three point shots that Central Decatur launched through the nets. After the tough road losses, the ladies returned to the comfort of Roadrunner Country to face Pleasantville. The team dominated in the second half to secure a 13-point victory.