Speech team takes first place

Hot Springs County High School’s speech and debate team participated virtually in the Cheyenne South Bison Stampede tournament last weekend, bringing home first place in 1A/2A.

The team took the Sweepstakes award a full six points ahead of number 2, Niobrara.

Topping the list of winners was junior Jean-Luc Willson who placed second in varsity extemp. Following just behind Willson was Jacob Randall who finished in 10th place. Madeline Wagler placed 14th in extemp as well.

Willson and Randall also competed in varsity CX debate, garnering a sixth place standing with a 1-3 record.

The novice extemp speakers did a marvelous job as well with freshman Julia Quintanilla placing third and freshman Delayni Custer on her heels with fourth place.

Freshman Acacia Harris made her way into semi finals in poetry finishing ninth place in novice poetry.

Another freshman, Riley O’Brien, finished in the top 20 in novice congressional debate and received points for making two speeches in her rounds.

“This has been such a strange year,” said coach Cindy Glasson. “We started out doing in-person practices then switched out to virtual and now back to in-person. It makes it a bit tough to keep things in focus for these kids, but they are certainly stepping up and making their mark.

“We have a very young team this year but they are impressive.”

“We are so proud of the hard work that our students have already put into their events this year,” coach Lyle Wiley said. “Our novices are getting more opportunities than ever before to compete in Novice Tournaments (one positive by-product from the virtual tournament world), which has been a really encouraging development. 

“Several of our varsity leaders have been stepping up and filling leadership roles - helping novices while at the same time preparing their own events. It is an exciting year to coach!  I think that we will see a ton of growth in student skills, and hopefully we can build a firm foundation for the team in the future.

“Competing online is different, but the same. We miss the social element of seeing other teams and traveling, but in many ways we will benefit this season. We can attend more tournaments. We can attend more novice tournaments. We can develop team chemistry and build our unit during competition at the high school. 

“All that being said, we can’t wait to get back to traveling for Speech and Debate and hope that we are able to do that sooner rather than later.”

The team will be participating in the virtual University of Wyoming tournament this weekend followed by the Cheyenne East Classic tournament the weekend prior to Christmas break.