Speech and debate team takes second, keeps improving

The Green River High School Speech and Debate team has been arguing their way to winning, taking second place over the weekend at the "Speak of the Devil" Tournament in Evanston.

"That was our best tournament of the season so far," head coach Dan Parson said. "I just am really proud of them."

Nine schools competed in Evanston, with Green River competing in the "small schools" category with other 3A schools as well as 1A and 2A schools. Several competitors from GRHS also made it to the final rounds in their individual events.

"They've come together really well as a team and are starting to sort of jump into the whole thing with both feet," Parson said.

At the tournament, Mia Worrell and Ellie Taylor took fifth place in Duos, with Lilly Duncan and Mason Tollefson taking sixth place. In Dramatic Interpretation, Ellie Taylor took second place and Mason Tollefson took seventh place. Faith Duncan took third place in finals and Douglas Leffers took sixth place in finals in Extemporaneous Speaking. Ace Holmes made it to the semifinals in Humorous Interpretation. In Informative Speaking, Brianna Page took fifth place in finals and Mia Worrell took third in finals. Abigail Smith took fifth place in finals in Original Oratory. Brianna Page was part of a three-way tie for fifth place in finals in Program Oral Interpretation. Mia Worrell took sixth place in finals in Poetic Interpretation, with Katie Kennah and Brianna Page making it to semifinals. Carter Tuttle and Lucas Bagshaw made it to SuperCongress in Student Congress. William Robertson and Faith Duncan made it to semifinals in Lincoln-Douglas debate, with Douglas Leffers finishing as the Tournament Champion.

Making their accomplishments even more impressive, many of the team members haven't participated in speech and debate in the past. The majority of the students are freshmen and sophomores, with Parson estimating only three or four seniors out of 39 team members.

"They've had to sort of figure out aspects of speech and debate out on their own and lean on each other and it's been really rewarding to watch them do that and figure it out," Parson said.

So far the team has participated in several tournaments. Although last weekend was the first time they placed among the winners, Parson said the students have worked hard and all the competitions have gone well. Each tournament is two days, and Parson explained students who participate in two events can end up competing up to a dozen times in rounds of competition which last an hour to an hour and a half.

"So they're pretty tired at the end of the whole thing," he said.

However, despite the hard work, the students continue to show up and "do their thing" according to Parson, practicing every Monday to Thursday and going to tournaments on the weekends. He said the team members are all coachable, and as they continue to learn their hard work is paying off.

"We just seem to keep growing and growing and doing a little better each week," Parson said.

This weekend the team will have a chance to take a break and continue working to refine their cases and polish their pieces before traveling to Natrona County next weekend. Parson explained Natrona County is traditionally a large tournament, possibly the biggest GRHS competes in, which will be a good chance for the students to see where they're at.

"We'll be able to go up against some schools we haven't seen yet this year and see how we stack up, so that'll be good from a competitive standpoint," Parson said.