Speechsters earn third place at state

The Hot Springs County High School Speech and Debate team brought home third place honors over the weekend from the State Speech Tournament in Buffalo.

Senior Darren Leonhardt broke all the way to finals, finishing the day with a sixth place win in extemp. He took second in Lincoln-Douglas Debate.   

Two other seniors, Amanda Dinsmore and Eryn Robinson broke to semi-finals in duet, but unfortunately missed breaking into finals by just two points.

"This has been a hard fought season for this team," coach Cindy Glasson said, "but I couldn't be more proud of them. They have continued to grow individually and as a team, have shown a closeness and camaraderie that is unbelievable. Third place is amazing."

Dinsmore, Robinson and Leonhardt were also named to the All State Team.

"Kam (Olsen) had a rough weekend," Glasson said. "Normally, he's on top of the game and speaking exceptionally well, but he came to me after his first couple of rounds and let me know things just felt off. Sometimes, in speech it just goes that way and you hope the next day things get better. It was hard for me, knowing it was his senior year. I really wanted him to come away with the gold, but it just wasn't meant to be."

The fourth senior on the team, Aressa Goodrich, also had an off weekend.

"Aressa (Goodrich) was a trooper," Glasson said. "She had gone through surgery exactly a week ago and still had some swelling going on in her face which made it hard for her to put all the facial expressions into her drama piece. That didn't stop her, though, she plunged in with both feet and gave it everything she could."

The under-classmen, for their first trip to state, did an amazing job, too.

Sophomore Patience Moore barely missed breaking into semi-finals with her drama piece and sophomore and junior Wyatt Wright and Rhett Richmond both had 3-3 records in LD debate.

"I'm really happy with my three returning team members," Glasson said. "They are going to be a good base to start next year's season with. 

"Patience (Moore) has a natural ability when it comes to drama and she's already thinking about what she wants to do for next year. Her plan is to read all summer, looking for a new drama piece. That's the kind of dedication we need.

"As for Wyatt (Wright) and Rhett (Richmond), those two have grown by leaps and bounds this season. Wyatt had a taste of breaking into semi-finals this year and he's definitely hungry for more, and Rhett has gone from not winning a single ballot at the start of the season to winning half of his debates at State. As a coach, you can't ask for more."

While the State Tournament is the culminating event for most teams, the speech team still has one more tournament to work their way through, the National Qualifiers Tournament, next weekend in Riverton at Central Wyoming College.

"Our five seniors will be competing for a berth at the National Tournament which will be held this summer in Salt Lake," Glasson said. "The State Tournament is the biggie for the whole team, but Nat Quals is that golden egg everybody wants to find. We've been really fortunate to have national qualifiers 15 times since becoming part of the National Speech and Debate Association, and I have high hopes for these seniors."

Members of the public are more than welcome at the tournament in Riverton which runs Thursday through Saturday at Central Wyoming College.