The Green River High School Speech and Debate team came home with its first, first-place trophy and is hoping to obtain more this season.
The team recently traveled to Riverton to compete in its tournament. The team took first place with 274 points, while the second-place team obtained 105 points.
“There were only nine schools in attendance and so our tournament host decided to break it up to small schools, medium schools and large schools by population,” head coach Carina White said.
This put Green River into the medium school category along with Evanston and another school. Green River won that category as well.
“I am extremely happy with how we did,” she said. “Our team is gaining momentum and are novices are really showing potential.”
In addition, the team closed out the final round of Lincoln Douglas debate in both the varsity and novice categories two weekends in a row and the novices closed out semifinals in Riverton.
“That means we were the top four in the tournament,” White said. “We are excited for the season to come and this group is really coming together as a team. It’s awesome to watch.”
It was the teams first trip out of Sweetwater County and the travel did impact the team.
“We enjoyed traveling out of town,” she said. “It feels more like a tournament when you travel for whatever reason.”
Despite the great success in Riverton, the team has a lot of work ahead of them. They are still in the early stages of preparing and memorizing and writing cases. The novices are still trying to pick a secondary event and perfect that event as well.
The team also gained a few more team members after fall sports ended.
“Every single one of them has shown amazing potential,” White said.
During the Riverton tournament, all of the team members performed well.
“We had so many stand out specifically, I would have to single out our novices for their amazing work ethic and talent,” she said.
The team will now have a break and start the preparations needed to host their own tournament, which is scheduled to take place Dec. 8 and 9. The novice team members will compete at the Green River tournament.
The varsity team won’t compete, but they will run the tournament. So far, 20 schools are scheduled to attend.
The varsity team members will be in charge of everything from judging rounds to finding judges to setting up and even running concessions.
“In speech and debate, when you host a tournament you don’t compete at the varsity level,” White explained. “It’s basically your turn to give back to the speech and debate community.”
Riverton Tournament results
Congress: Jesse Lauze, first place, Atlin Johnson, second place, Savrina Karimi, fourth place, Rachel Heisinger, fifth place, Patrick Marchal, sixth place, Sam Bayles and Matthew Pickering semifinalists
Varsity Lincoln Douglas debate: Rachel Heisinger and Chase Kontz, first place tie, Abbie Grubb, third place
Varsity Public Forum Debate: Cassie Newcomb and Savrina Karimi, first place, Jenna Robertson and Tavianne Kemp, third place, Patrick Marchal and Gregory Marchal, third place
Varsity Cross Examination Debate: Atlin Johnson and Victoria Allen, first place, Jesse Lauze and Rebecca Shamer, second place, Sam Bayles and Levi Hren, third place
Varsity humor: Dallin Hoyt, first place, Will Allen, second place, Raymond Garcia, fifth place
Varsity Poetry: Lindsay Johnson, second place, Leona Grimes, third place, Elaine Comer, fourth place, Karlee Cutler, fifth place, Kassie Jo Rasmussen, sixth place
Varsity Drama: Kitiona Howard, fourth place, Leona Grimes, fifth place, Krista Boynton, sixth place
Varsity Oratory: Victoria Allen, first place, Sarah Kropf, fourth place, Robyn Jauregui, fifth place
Varsity Extemporaneous: Gregory Marchal, second place, Chase Kontz, fifth place, Alex Shafe, sixth place, Kassie Bohlmann and Hannah Thomas, semifinalists
Varsity Impromptu: Gregory Marchal, first place, Rebecca Shamer, third place, Robyn Jauregui, fourth place, Shelbi McFadden, fifth place,
Leona Grimes, Alex Shafe and Chase Kontz, semifinalist
Varsity Duet: Karlee Cutler and Sarah Kropf, first place, Raymond Garcia, second place, Thomas Boynton, fourth place
Novice Duet: Trista Parry and Amber Gambles, first place, Elijah Kropf and Eli Thomas, fourth place
Novice Drama: Kami Lloyd, second place
Novice Extemporaneous: Sam Quick, fifth place
Novice Congress: Gabby Farnsworth, fourth place
Novice Poetry: Eli Thomas and Gabby Farnsworth, semifinalists
Novice Humor: Jaron Shereda, first place, Wolfgang Dittman, second place, Elijah Kropf, third place, Amber Gambles, fourth place
Novice Impromptu: Caeden Grubb, third place
Novice Public Forum: Jauslyn Jones and Maddie Deichmiller, third place, Rory Raliff and Morgan Atkins, third place
Novice Cross Examination Debate: Sam Quick Rebekka Poling, first place, Maddie Young Alex Erdmann, third place
Semifinal closeout novice Lincoln Douglas: Tying for first: Caeden Grubb, Jessica Petri, Bethany Friberg and Laura Cecilia
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