The speech team came home with a second-place finish after traveling to Laramie this weekend to compete in a new tournament.
The Green River High School speech and debate team attended Laramie’s first Pokes Invitational Speech and Debate tournament, which was hosted by the University of Wyoming.
Twelve schools and about 214 students attended the event where Cheyenne East took first place with 103 points, Green River grabbed second with 92 points and Rock Springs came in third with 33 points.
“At this point in the season, competition is elevated. Performances are more polished, debate arguments are more refined and everyone is more focused,” assistant coach Jason Grubb said. “This was definitely one of the most competitive tournaments we have participated in all season.”
A difference the students noticed while competing at this tournament was the judging.
“This tournament was different from others because most of the judges were college students with high school speech-and-debate experience,” he said. “They were familiar with the events and knew exactly what to look for in evaluating competitors.”
Knowing how tough the judging was going to be and how tough some of the competition was going to be, the GR team spent more time in the lab researching and more time practicing with each other.
“At the tournament students delivered their best and this was reflected in high scores for many of our students,” he said.
The team continues to gain experience and increase its strengths in other areas. Grubb as impressed with the team’s Lincoln-Douglas debate and Congressional debate squads.
“This is the fifth tournament in a row we have won Lincoln-Douglas debate,” he said.
In Congressional debate, the team nearly claimed all six spots. They only missed fifth place.
Team captain Dallin Hoyt stood out by competing in three events and placing in three events — taking first place in Lincoln-Douglas debate, second place in Congressional debate and third in humorous interpretation.
Victoria Allen, Jesse Lauze-Reyes and Gregory Marchal also stood out when they each took first place in the events they competed in.
Freshman Caeden Grubb was the freshman on the team to place in the top six in any event. He finished third in Lincoln-Douglas debate and fifth in Oratory.
“Debate events continue to be our strength. Each week we see more students in these events find success,” he said. “Our Congressional debate finish at this tournament was amazing.”
The team will need to improve in other areas to continue to be a well-rounded team.
“We would like to see more of our non-debate competitors in the final rounds of competition. We are having strong semifinal finishes,” he said “We need to take things to the next level. We have the talent. We have the work ethic. We need to adjust a few things and clean up some of the performances and then we will see more success in these events.”
The team will only have two more regular tournaments to compete in before they compete at the state tournament. The team will compete in Greybull next weekend and will wrap up its regular season in Worland.
“The competition is the best it will ever be,” he said. “We hoping to finish the season strong.”
Laramie Results
Congress: Jesse Lauze-Reyes, first place, Dallin Hoyt, second place, Matthew Pickering, third place, Patrick Marchal, fourth place, Rachel Heisinger, sixth place and Shelbee McFadden, Sam Bayles and Ramsey Taliaferro, semifinalists
Humor: Dallin Hoyt, third place, and Amber Gambles and Will Allen, semifinalist
Oratory: Victoria Allen, first place, Caeden Grubb, fifth place, Abbie Grubb, sixth place, Robyn Jauregui and Sarah Kropf, semifinalists
Poetry: Leona Grimes, fourth place and Karlee Cutler and Lynzi Johnson, semifinalists
Extemporaneous: Gregory Marchal, first place
Duet: Karlee Cutler and Sarah Kropf and Trista Parry and Amber Gambles, semifinalists
Public forum: Ramsey Tailiaferro and Matthew Pickering, third place
Cross examination: Gregory Marchal and Patrick Marchal, first place
Lincoln Douglas debate: Dallin Hoyt, first place, Caeden Grubb and Rachel Heisinger, third place
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