In a dominant fashion, the Green River High School Speech and Debate Team came home with two first-place trophies.
The team recently traveled to Greybull and Worland to compete in a couple of smaller tournaments. In Greybull, they finished first with 109 points, while Worland took second with 38 points and Greybull took third with 34 points. In Worland, the team took first with 114 points, followed by Jackson with 39 points and Rock Springs with 28.
“Greybull was a smaller tournament. We were only able to enter 19 students in the competition rather than the over 50 students we typically enter at each tournament,” assistant coach Jason Grubb said. “We competed at Greybull because the tournament uses the March debate topics instead of the February topics. This allowed our public forum and Lincoln Douglas debaters another opportunity to debate the topics that will be used at the state tournament in mid-March.”
It’s all about getting in as much practice before state as possible. All but two of the students who competed at Greybull compete in debate, he said.
One thing that was different at this tournament was there were no semifinal rounds of competition. Only the top students in each event after preliminaries moved onto the final rounds.
“Knowing there were no semifinal rounds of competition, students knew they had to do their best in each preliminary round of competition,” Grubb said. “Higher scores were required to guarantee a spot in a finals round.”
For Grubb, the entire team stood out this week.
“We tied for first in all three forms of debate -- policy, public form and Lincoln-Douglas,” Grubb said. “We also had the top finishers in congressional debate.”
Something different that happened at this tournament was Spencer Travis’ debate partner was sick and couldn’t travel to the competition. It just so happened another student Brentan Brown from Kelly Walsh High School didn’t have a partner to compete with either. It was suggested they make a team so they could still compete in public-forum debate. They finished third in the tournament. Travis also finished third in extemporaneous speaking.
Team captain Dallin Hoyt continued his success by taking first place in humorous interpretation and first in Lincoln-Douglas debate with teammate and fellow team captain Abigaile Grubb and fourth place in informative speaking.
The team took the top four spots in informative speaking and five of the top six spots in Congressional debate.
“We need to get better on the new debate topics. While we found success at this tournament, it was messy,” Grubb said.
The public-forum debate squad continues to improve, Grubb said.
“This was the first time this season our public-forum debate teams tied for first place,” Grubb said. “All but one of the four public-forum teams we entered in the tournament finished with a winning record. Some tournaments we haven’t had any of our public forum teams in the final round.”
With Worland being the last regular-season tournament, team members had mixed feelings about it. Some were glad the long season was over, while others would compete yearlong if they had the opportunity, Grubb said.
“The seniors on the team were very aware this was their last regular season tournament. Speech and debate has meant so much to them,” he said. “It has shaped who they are and what they believe. They wanted to compete with no regrets and many did.”
Greybull Results
Informative Speaking: Abigaile Grubb, first place, Leona Grimes, second place, Robyn Jauregui, third place and Dallin Hoyt, fourth place
Humorous Interpretation: Dallin Hoyt, first place and Amber Gambles, fifth place
Poetry: Leona Grimes, first place
Extemporaneous Speaking: Gregory Marchal, first place and Spencer Travis, third place
Original Oratory: Caeden Grubb, fifth place
Duo: Trista Parry and Amber Gambles, seventh place
Lincoln Douglas debate: Dallin Hoyt and Abigaile Grubb, first-place tie and Rachel Heisinger, third place
Policy debate: Atlin Johnson and Rebecca Shamer and Patrick and Gregory Marchal, first-place tie
Public Forum debate: Shelbee McFadden and Robyn Jauregui and Cassie Newcomb and Savrina Karimi, first-place tie, Matthew Taliafero and Matthew Pickering third place
Spencer Travis and Brentan Brown from Kelly Walsh High School, third place
Congressional debate: Savrina Karimi, first place, Matthew Pickering, third place, Atlin Johnson, fourth place, Rachel Heisinger, fifth place and Patrick Marchal, sixth place
Worland Results
Congress: Patrick Marchal, first place, Atlin Johnson, fifth place
Program Oral Interpretation: Lynzi Johnson, first place, Karlee Cutler, second place, Elaine Comer, sixth place
Lincoln Douglas debate: Dallin Hoyt and Abigaile Grubb, first-place tie, Rachel Heisinger and Caeden Grubb, fifth place
Public forum debate: Cassie Newcomb and Savrina Karimi, first place
Informative speaking: Abigaile Grubb, first place, Leona Grimes, second place, Dallin Hoyt, third place
Oratory: Sarah Kropf, first place
Extemporaneous: Gregory Marchal, first place
Big questions debate: Caeden Grubb, first place
Cross examination: Atlin Johnson and Shelbee McFadden, second place, Rebecca Shamer and Jesse Lauze-Reyes, third place, Danny Christen & Caleb Ragsdale, third place
Poetry: Karlee Cutler, second place, Elaine Comer, sixth place
Duo: Karlee Cutler and Sarah Kropf, third place, Krista Boyton and Hannah Thomas, fifth place
Humor: Dallin Hoyt, fifth place
Impromptu: Shelbee McFadden, fifth place, Rebecca Shamer, sixth place
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