Speech and Debate off to state

The Bobcat Speech and Debate team traveled to Worland last weekend for the last tournament of their regular season.

As a whole, the team brought back third place honors with several students breaking into semi-finals on Saturday.

Hannah Hu went to semis once again with her original oratory.

“Hannah (Hu) has been one of those on the team that has been very consistent,” coach Cindy Glasson said. “Once she got on her feet, got the first couple of meets under her belt, she’s proven weekend after weekend that her oratory belongs on the stage.”

Tyler Kay and Katie Burrows just missed semis with their duet, “1-800”.

“Tyler (Kay) and Katie (Burrows) have struggled a little bit with their piece,” Glasson said. “It is very funny and absolutely something that everyone can relate to, having to press one or press two when you’re trying to get to customer service, but it doesn’t include a lot of movement.

“Some judges are looking for duets that have huge movement and participants that fly all over the room. This piece doesn’t do that, but judging for the next two weekends will be more regulated, so I really think they’re going to come into their own.”

Kay, however, broke into semis with his humor piece.

“Tyler (Kay) just has this look that judges fall in love with,” Glasson said. “His piece revolves around a young man in love and his potential love interest works at an animal shelter. His way of getting the girl is to adopt every cat at the shelter.

“His face really tells the story. He shows rejection, elation, anger, all the emotions, very well. Add the basics of the story and you’ve got a winner.”

Aaron Hanson made it to semis in both of his events, drama and POI, for the second weekend in a row.

“Aaron is the epitome of hard work,” Glasson said. “He is always asking what he can do better. He pours over his ballots after a tournament and we discuss what the judges are suggesting. He is one of those students that takes direction extremely well and remembers what we’ve discussed, working it into his pieces.”

The Bobcats will be heading to Green River today (Thursday) for their State meet and then finish their season at the National Qualifying meet in Casper the following weekend.

“Of course, state is a huge meet,” Glasson said. “Fortunately, we went to a pair of meets early in the season that are nearly on the same level as state in attendance, so they’re already used to going against a ton of competitors.”

The following weekend is the National Qualifying meet that will determine if the Bobcats will be making their 17th appearance at nationals. As a coach, Glasson has qualified five students for the national meet in the last two years.

“Not everyone gets to attend the qualifying meet,” Glasson said. “There are certain things each student must accomplish and each team is only allowed a certain number of students at the tournament.

“We have been very lucky, with a team of first year students, to have every, single student meet those qualifications. These kids have worked very hard to get where they’re at and I couldn’t be more proud of them.

“For most teams, state is the culmination of their season. Ours is the qualifiers. Actually, if we have someone qualify for Nationals, the end of our season will be in June.”

The National Speech and Debate Tournament will be held in Birmingham, Ala. the second week in June.