GR speech team kicks off new season

With 75 students making up this year’s Green River High School Speech and Debate team, the team wants to take advantage of any tournament it can attend.

A couple weeks ago, the speech team went to Rock Springs to compete. Head coach Carina White said almost all of those competing were part of this year’s novice team, however, a few varsity team members who will miss a tournament later in the season also competed.

Despite only having a few varsity members attending, the team came home with a third-place finish to kick off the season. White said the Rock Springs tournament is so early in the season, many of the varsity students haven’t had a chance to prepare.

Having such a large team has its challenges, but White said the coaches and varsity team members are working together to help a few of the newcomers.

“We have 75 kids on our team this season and the coaches are excited to see how the season progresses,” White said. “We didn’t lose many seniors and have almost everyone from last season returning.”

White said she is happy to have a lot of returning students and new ones too. This gives the team a good mix.

This past weekend the team traveled to Cheyenne to attend the Cheyenne South Tournament, a tournament for novices only. Many of the students did well and finished in the semifinals or finals. 

“We will compete with the entire team this coming weekend at Juan Diego in Salt Lake City, which is a novice and varsity tournament,” White said.

She is looking forward to seeing the competitive Utah teams at this tournament.

As for goals, the team has set its sights on the state title, however they also have set individual goals as well.

“We want each student to have great success and to reach individual goals, but as a team we have our sights set on gaining back our state title,” she said.

The team plans to obtain these goals through hard work and dedication. White said the team must strive for excellence at every practice and every tournament.

It’s early in the season to predict which teams will be the most competitive, but White said she knows Cheyenne East is always competitive. She said they have a large and successful team.

After this weekend, the team will have a little break before hosting its own tournament in December. Starting in January, the entire varsity team will attend the tournaments.