It was only six points that separated first from second, but the Green River High School Speech and Debate team will learn from it and focus on this weekend’s competition.
For the second week in a row, the team has finished second. This past weekend the team competed at the Kelly Walsh Tournament.
“With back to back second-place finishes we have our eye on a first-place finish in Evanston,” head coach Carina Stulken said.
“The team is working really hard to make that happen. They are setting goals every week and striving to improve their performances.”
Natrona County came out on top with 62 points, GRHS followed with 56 points and Rock Springs came in third with 35 points.
Stulken was impressed with a couple students, Mike Montoya and Leonna Grimes who made it into their first final round of public-forum debate with an undefeated record and finished the tournament in second place. Dallin Hoyt continued his success in humor again this weekend with a second-place finish.
“Our team is young; we don’t have a lot of seniors; and although we have a lot of talent on the team this is a growing season for us. I absolutely believe that we can and will win this season. Our finish behind Natrona this weekend was by six points; they had a great tournament,” Stulken said. “If we had a couple of additional students make it into final rounds, we would have won. I am encouraged with the results of Kelly Walsh and we are excited to see growth every week. This is only the second tournament this team has competed at as a whole group. I expect a first-place finish in Evanston this coming weekend.”
The team is getting back into competition mode; and are ready and motivated for the season to progress. Every day, after school, the team meets to practice.
Debate students all work in the lab and practice rounds. Each students meets with a coach to practice their events.
Each week of competition gives the students more experience in their events and helps them to focus in on what they need to improve upon for the following week, she said.
“We travel every week from now till the end of the season in March so we have a long road ahead of us and a lot of chances to improve,” she said.
Natrona, Rock Springs, Cheyenne East and the other 4A schools have all improved and grown larger this year so it is going to be tough competition every week to see who comes out on top.
“Our coaching staff has experience and cares deeply about our team; we want to help each student be successful,” she said.
Kelly Walsh Results
Oratory: Victoria Allen, third place, Kayla Gibson, semifinalist
Poetry: Leslie Patterson, semifinalist, Megan Golightly, seventh place
Informative: Hayley Lauze, sixth place, Abigaile Grubb, fourth place
Humor: Dallin Hoyt, second place, Phaedon Jones, semifinalist, Emma Nathan, sixth place
Super congress: Jesse Lauze, third place, Patrick Marchal, Tristan Gilmore and Atlin Johnson, semifinalists
Program oral interpretation: Leslie Patterson, third place
Extemporaneous: Gregory Marchal and Michael Montoya, semifinalists
Duet: Renia Kropf, Leslie Patterson, Karlee Cutler and Lynzi Johnson semifinalists
Cross examination: Danny Christensen and Caleb Ragsdale, third place
Patrick Marchal and Gregory Marchal, third place
Drama: Savannah McCauley, semifinalist
Public forum: Michael Montoya and Leonna Grimes, second place
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