Even though the speech team hadn’t competed in about a month, it was able to come home with another first-place finish.
This weekend, the Green River High School Speech and Debate team traveled to Casper to compete in the Kelly Walsh Tournament. In the 4A Division, GRHS took first place with 117 points, followed by Cheyenne East with 61 points and Natrona County with 38 points.
“Kelly Walsh was a highly competitive tournament,” assistant coach Jason Grubb said. Eighteen teams from across the state of Wyoming competed.”
With only three rounds of competition before semi-final rounds, the students had to perform at their absolute best in each round to move on.
“We are extremely pleased with the team’s performance. There was some solid competition at this tournament,” Grubb said. “This was the first time we competed with some of the programs from Northern Wyoming and only the second time since the beginning of the season we were at a tournament with Cheyenne East, one of the top programs in the state of Wyoming.”
The students knew going into the tournament that some of the schools attending competed in tournaments the weekend before and were ready to go.
“We didn’t know how that would impact us. Our last competition was the third week of December,” he said. “Hard work and practice paid off for some. Others you could tell there had been a break. Despite a lengthy break, the team as a whole performed well.”
For Grubb, a few students stood out this weekend. Elijah Kropf took fifth place in humorous interpretation in his first varsity competition. He was the only GRHS student in the humor finals.
Nele Kohler took sixth place in original oratory in her first varsity competition. The team’s Lincoln Douglas and Policy Debate squads continued to tie for first, while the Congress squad had five students make it to the final round with four placing. Patrick Marchal took first place, Jesse Lauze came home with third place, Atlin Johnson placed fifth and Matthew Pickering took sixth place.
“The team is definitely where they need to be at this point in the season. There’s opportunity though,” Grubb said. “We’d like to see a few more in the finals rounds in each event. Specifically public forum debate, dramatic interpretation and informative speaking, all need attention. We have the talent, but need a little more work and time to get students in the top placings.”
With only varsity students competing from now on, not as many students are going to the meets. This past weekend, 53 traveled to Casper, while in the upcoming tourney in Evanston, 60 will go. As for Evanston, there are not as many entry restrictions which is why 60 students are going.
“With such a large squad not all those who were novice will travel every weekend though. Many tournaments limit the number of entries per event,” Grubb said. “We have to be selective. Our top varsity competitors are entered first and then students are entered as space becomes available.”
Kelly Walsh Results
Oratory: Victoria Allen, first place, Sarah Kropf, second place, Nele Kohler, sixth place
Informative: Dallin Hoyt, third place, Rory Ratliff, Mikki Scott, Abigaile Grubb and Leona Grimes, semifinalists
Poetry: Leona Grimes, second place, Karlee Cutler, third place
Humor: Elijah Kropf, fifth place, Amber Gambles and Will Allen semifinalists
Extemporaneous: Gregory Marchal, first place
Congress: Patrick Marchal, first place, Jesse Lauze, third place, Atlin Johnson, fifth place Matthew Pickering, sixth place, Savrina Karimi, finalist
Duet: Kropf Cutler and Sarah Kropf, third place, Amber Gambles and Trista Parri semifinalists
Drama: Leona Grimes: semifinalists
Cross Examination Debate: first-place tie: Patrick Marchal and Gregory Marchal and Atlin Johnson and Victoria Allen
Danny Christensen and Caleb Ragsdale, third place
Lincoln Douglas Debate: first place tie, Abigaile Grubb and Dallin Hoyt, Rachel Heisinger, third place,
Program oral interpretation: Lynzi Johnson, second place, Karlee Cutler, fifth place, Sarah Kropf, sixth place
Drama: Leona Grime, semifinalist
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