After competing in one of the most competitive tournaments of the year, the Green River High School speech and debate team came home with second.
This past weekend, the team traveled to Cheyenne to compete in the Cheyenne South Bison Stampede Speech and Debate Tournament. This time Cheyenne East came out on top with 120 points, followed by Green River with 108 points.
Assistant coach Jason Grubb said this particular tournament is always a challenge because they compete against the two most competitive teams in the state -- Cheyenne East and Cheyenne Central. Central usually attends different meets than Green River and often travel to Colorado since it is in close proximity to Cheyenne.
“This past weekend was a good opportunity for us to see how we stacked up against Central,” Grubb said. “The team rose to the challenge of the tournament by working together, encouraging one another and going above and beyond with their preparation. Many students held additional practices throughout the week beyond their regular scheduled practice sessions.”
Once again, Grubb saw a few students who stood out. Matthew Pickering continues to be a dominant force in Congressional debate when he took second place, while two of the team’s freshman Lincoln Douglas debaters, Caeden Grubb and Jessica Petri, showed promise by reaching quarterfinals. This was only their third varsity competition.
The team’a captain, Dallin Hoyt, was the Lincoln Douglas tournament champion defeating last year’s Lincoln Douglas state champion.
Freshman Amber Gambles took fourth place in humorous interpretation, while Cassie Newcomb and Savrina Karimi took first place in public forum debate beating out two of the top public forum teams in the state.
“The team is improving in informative speaking. After only placing one finalist at the Kelly Walsh tournament two weeks ago, we captured second, third and fifth place against a very competitive Cheyenne East informative speaking squad,” Grubb said. “We also see growth in poetry with students finishing in the top second and third spots with an additional two competitors in semifinals.”
Each week, the competitors in extemporaneous speaking continue to improve. Six students made it to the semifinal rounds and one, Gregory Marchal, made it to the final round and took first.
“He finished first, but we would like to see some of his teammates place in this event as well,” Grubb said.
Oratory is another area that could use some improvement. Three students made it to semifinals and only one moved on to the final round to finish fourth.
“We would love to see a first-place finish in this event at our next tournament,” he said.
The team would also like to have more success in the program of oral interpretation category.
“We have great content we just need to improve our delivery,” Grubb said.
The team will make preparations for the Natrona County Tournament, which will take place this weekend in Casper.
“We saw a lot of success at the Natrona County High School tournament last year. We hope to repeat this success and have the talent to do so,” he said.
Cheyenne South Results
House Congress: Matthew Pickering, second place, Jesse Lauze, fourth place, Patrick Marchal, Sam Bayles, Rachel Heisinger and Savrina Karimi, finalists
Senate Congress: Atlin Johnson, first place
Oratory: Sarah Kropf, fourth place, Caeden Grubb and Nele Kohler semifinalists
Informative speaking: Dallin Hoyt, second place, Abbie Grubb, third place, Leona Grimes, fifth place, Mikki Scott and Robyn Jauregui, semifinalists
Humor: Amber Gambles, fourth place, Dallin Hoyt, sixth place and Elijah Kropf, semifinalist
Extemporaneous: Gregory Marchal, first place, Chase Kontz, Atlin Johnson, Spencer Travis, Hannah Thomas and Alex Shafe, semifinalists
Poetry: Leona Grimes, second place, Elaine Comer, third place, Karlee Cutler and Kassi Jo Rasmussen, semifinalists
Duet: Karlee Cutler and Sarah Kropf, second place, Trista Parry and Amber Gambles, Elijah Kropf and Eli Thomas and Krista Boynton and Hannah Thomas, semifinalists
Program of oral interpretation: Lynzi Johnson, Karlee Cutler and Kassi Jo Rasmussen
Cross examination: Patrick Marchal and Gregory Marchal, first place
Public Forum: Cassie Newcomb and Savrina Karimi, first place
Lincoln Douglas: Dallin Hoyt, first place, Caeden Grubb, Jessica Petri and Mikki Scott, quarterfinalists
Reader Comments(0)