One point was the difference between first and second place at the Natrona County Speech and Debate Tournament.
The Green River High School Speech and Debate Team squeaked out a first-place finish this past weekend at the tournament they knew would be one of the toughest of the season.
GRHS came out on top with 77 points, while Cheyenne Central was nipping at their heels with 76 points, followed by Cheyenne East with 42 for third place.
“This is the toughest tournament we attend; the entire state is present as well as a couple of schools from South Dakota,” head coach Carina Stulken said. “We expected it would be close and we were right with Green River attaining a victory over Cheyenne Central by only one point. The competition is tough this year and every win is going to be a hard, fought battle. We came out on top this weekend and I couldn’t be prouder. The close point spread just shows how difficult of a road it was for the team.”
It was something the team needed to learn at this point in the season.
“There is always room for improvement and every week we need to continue to work hard to perfect our events,” Stulken said. “The team learned that with hard work and dedication you can achieve your goals. They set a goal to win this tournament; and that is what they did. We had a slow start this season and have gained momentum since; we are stronger than ever and ready to take on the rest of this season.”
All of the 4A schools are tough this year, Stulken said. This was illustrated by the fact that Green River, Cheyenne East and Natrona have all had a first-place finish.
“We hadn’t seen Cheyenne Central at the same tournament until this weekend and Rock Springs has also been doing well,” Stulken said. “Week to week we have to stay at the top of our game.”
The team continues to set goals to accomplish. Stulken said their goals for the upcoming weeks are to improve on a personal level each week and win the whole tournament as a team.
Several students stood out at the Natrona Tournament. Emma Nathan won humor this weekend and once again the team had great showings with humor and duet with four of the six finalists in humor from Green River and three of the six finalists in duet from Green River. Phaedon Jones and Amy Grass won duet. GR’s Congress competitors have been absolutely dominating as well with six students making it to finals this weekend in Congress. Jesse Lauze took second place this weekend in Congress.
Natrona Results
Duet: Amy grass and Phaedon Jones, first place, Morgan Burbank and Sarah Kropf, second place, Karlee Cutler and Lynzi Johnson sixth place
Super Congress Senate: Kolbi Schnazenbach, fourth place, Tristan Gilmore, semifinalist
Super Congress House: Jesse Lauze, second place, Atlin Johnson, third place, Patrick Marchal, sixth place, Allison Kloepper, semifinalist
Oratory: Kayla Gibson, semifinalist
Humor: Emma Nathan, first place, Phaedon Jones: third place, Colt Parson, fifth place, Morgan Burbank, semifinalist
Extemporaneous: Gregory Marchal, seventh place, Hannah Thomas, semifinalist
Poetry: Leslie Patterson, semifinalist
Lincoln Douglas debate: Abigail Grubb, quarter finalist, Chase Kontz, quarter finalist, Rebecca Shamer, quarter finalist
Public forum debate: Allison Kloepper and Hannah Thomas, quarter finalists, Michael Montoya and Leonna Grimes, quarter finalists
Cross examination debate: Jesse Lauze and Hayley Lauze, third place, Patrick Marchal and Gregory Marchal, second place
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