JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. — Cheyenne East is still the school to beat but the Jackson Hole High School Speech and Debate Team was with them every step of the way last weekend, earning 2nd place in 4A at the Mustang Classic.
The meet, held at Natrona County High School in Casper January 28-29, attracted 19 schools with close to 500 total entries. While Cheyenne East captured the 1st place finish, Jackson edged out Rock Springs and Evanston who finished in 3rd and 4th place respectively. This is one of the largest competitions of the year with numerous Wyoming programs competing in Casper along with several South Dakota schools.
Individual achievements
Senior and team captain Carter Worcester teamed with senior Sarah Schweitzer to bring home the championship in Public Forum Debate. Senior and team captain Will Aepli joined partner Alexis Hernandez to place 10th in the event, narrowly missing the quarterfinals due to a tie breaker.
Worcester went on to be crowned champion in Congressional Debate as well. As the sole JHHS competitor to make it to the finals round of the event, Worcester bested the 2nd place competitor from Cheyenne East by a whopping 15 points.
Sophomore Jackson Neishabouri and freshman Ben Moffett finished in 5th in their preliminary chambers, and missed advancing to the finals of the event by one place. Junior Ventura Garcia Perez finished in 6th place in his preliminary chamber.
Schweitzer went on to win the Triple Threat Award in the tournament. Adding to her 1st place in PF Debate, she finished in 4th in Impromptu Speaking and earned 3rd place in Extemporaneous Speaking. Aepli reached semifinals in Extemporaneous Speaking while Hernandez and freshman Oscar Andersen reached the quarter finals of the event.
Julieta Anaya notched 5th place in Impromptu. Aepli reached the semifinals of the same event. Anaya went on to reach semifinals in Poetry Interpretation and joined junior Blanca Sartillo in Duo Interpretation where they reached semifinals of the event.
Hernandez placed 3rd in Original Oratory with his presentation on diversity and first-generation Americans. Junior Ary Jimenez Garcia found great success in Informative Speaking where she reached semifinals.
Coach Londe Gagnon commented on the weekend, saying “Students needed to be near perfect in preliminary rounds to advance. The scores many of our team earned would have advanced them to culminating rounds at any other tournament of the season.”
Next up
The team next travels to Hot Springs in two weeks. In addition, Jackson speechies will be hosting their own invitational tournament this weekend on Feb 4-5 For the home tournament, the Speech Team is in need of 135 more volunteers to judge for approximately an hour and a half each. Judging guidelines will be provided and a practice judging session will be offered on Tuesday Feb 1. Judging experience is not required.
Refreshments and free babysitting will be provided.
Volunteer anytime from 2:30pm Friday afternoon until 9:30pm Friday evening, or from 8am Saturday until 5pm Saturday. Sign up online, email coach Londe Gagnon at lgagnon@tcsd.org or call her at 307-699-0537.
