Senior Eric Mount ranked as the top speaker out of 77 contestants in radio announcing at the Pennsylvania High School Speech League State Tournament, held last weekend at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pa. Eric -- who normally participates in duo interpretation at regular season competitions -- is the second state champion radio announcer in school history, joining David Hogue who won top honors in 1984.

Eric led the way as Mercer High speakers turned in a strong overall showing, placing eight speakers into the semifinal rounds. Five speakers advanced into the final round.

The two-day competition involved students who qualified for the state tournament by ranking in the top two or three of their categories at twelve district qualifying tournaments held throughout the state.

Eric turned in excellent performances in his two preliminary rounds as he received second place rankings from both of his judges in round one and firsts from both second round judges. After achieving a first place overall ranking from three judges in semifinals, Eric was given two firsts, a second, a third, and a fourth place ranking from the five judges in finals to win the category by two points over an announcer from Fox Chapel High School.

Mercer's last state champion was Heather Stein who won dramatic interpretation in 1997.

Mercer had two of the six state finalists in humorous interpretation. Sophomore Woody Dixon followed up his fifth place finish at last year's state tournament with a fourth place finish on Saturday. After receiving first or second place rankings from half of his judges in preliminary rounds, Woody turned in an outstanding performance in the semifinal round with first place rankings from all three of his judges. In finals Woody ranked fourth overall with the five judges. Junior Alison Earnhart turned in her finest performance of the season, placing fifth in the state in humorous. Alison was given two top rankings and a second during preliminary rounds. In semifinals she received a second and two thirds to rank third overall before placing fifth in the final round.

Mercer's junior duo interpretation team of Tom Adams and Courtney Urey placed sixth in the state in what was one of the tournament's most hotly contested categories. After receiving two second place rankings and four thirds from their six preliminary round judges, Tom and Courtney placed third overall in their semifinal round and sixth in the final round.

Three other Mercer speakers advanced into semifinal rounds in their categories. In persuasive speaking senior Andrew Hazi ranked second in two preliminary rounds and third in the other before ranking fourth overall in his semifinal round. Senior Stephanie Morimando received a top ranking from both of her first round judges and a second place overall score in the third round before ranking fifth in the semifinal round. Junior Leah Acker recovered from a difficult first round to receive first place rankings from all four judges in rounds two and three. Then in semifinals Leah came up one rank short of qualifying for finals.

A trio of Mercer speakers narrowly missed qualifying for elimination rounds. Senior Emily Boal (impromptu speaking) and sophomore Tyler Love (commentary) were both one point short of breaking into semifinals, and freshman Alexis Burton (dramatic interpretation) missed qualifying by two points.

Mercer speakers will be idle from competition during the upcoming Easter break. On April 6th speakers in grades 7-10 travel to Keystone Oaks High School in suburban Pittsburgh to participate in the annual Freshman-Sophomore Tournament.

Sixteen speakers and seven judges will travel to Pittsburgh during the Memorial Day weekend to compete in the Grand National Tournament of the National Catholic Forensic League. Five speakers have also qualified to compete at the week-long National Forensic League National Tournament, scheduled for June 15-22 in Charlotte, North Carolina.