Lemont's Lambrakis, Zagorski Perform Well at IHSA Speech State Finals

Lemont High School seniors Nick Lambrakis and Becca Zagorski closed their careers with solid efforts at the
2015 IHSA Speech State Finals, which were contested on February 20-21 at the Peoria Civic Center. Making his second state finals appearance in as many seasons, Lambrakis just missed reaching the finals and posted a seventh-place finish in Dramatic Interpretation. Zagorski was 12th in Radio Speaking in her state finals debut. This was the third straight season, and fourth time in five years, that Lemont’s Speech team advanced multiple students to state finals competition.

Lambrakis and Zagorski reached the state finals thanks to their top-three finishes at the IHSA Oak Lawn Sectional on February 14.

Lambrakis finished third in Dramatic Interpretation with his entry, “American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. History.” In the Dramatic Interpretation category, students present literary material from a printed, published source. In his state finals debut in 2014, Lambrakis was eighth of 21 competitors in Oratorical Declamation.

Zagorski became Lemont’s first state finals qualifier in Radio Speaking after tying for third in sectional competition. In Radio Speaking, students present a newscast, including a commercial, after being supplied with a script by the IHSA.

Lemont finished third at the IHSA Sandburg Regional and advanced competitors to the IHSA Oak Lawn Sectional in 11 of 15 events. Lambrakis earned the team’s lone event win at the regional, marking his second straight IHSA Regional title; he also was an IHSA Sectional champion a year ago. Zagorski advanced to sectional competition in two categories (3rd, Radio Speaking; 4th, Informative Speaking), as did senior Maria Castrogiovanni (2nd, Original Oratory; 3rd, Special Occasion Speaking) and sophomore Justin Haase (2nd, Prose Reading; 3rd, Humorous Interpretation).

Other sectional qualifiers included juniors Dana Kahle and Clare Rachwalski, who teamed for a runner-up finish
in Dramatic Duet Acting; the Performance in the Round cast, which placed third; and senior Nick DeArcangelis (Impromptu Speaking) and sophomore Kimberly Van Hecke (Original Comedy), who were fourth in their categories.

Lemont won its sixth straight South Suburban Conference-Blue Division title in 2015, which included a first-place effort from Lambrakis in Dramatic Interpretation. The team is coached by Phil Lazzari, Sandy Doebert and Dee Hamilton.

Lemont’s best finishes in state finals competition came in 2011, when Delia Ercoli ‘11 was second in Informative Speaking and Aubree Tally ‘13 placed third in Humorous Interpretation. That year, Ercoli became the first Lemont student to qualify for state finals competition in two categories, as she also took part in Oratorical Declamation. Lemont’s other speech state finals qualifiers have included Bryan Carver ‘09 (Humorous Interpretation) in 2009; Tally (Dramatic Interpretation) and Ryan Luzzo ‘14 (Prose Reading) in 2013; and Lambrakis (Oratorical Declamation) and Peter Marzano ‘14 (Extemporaneous Speaking) in 2014.