Speech and Debate first at Jackson

The Bobcat Speech and Debate team finished first in the small school sweepstakes and had a great time at the Jackson Tournament last weekend.

“It was so great to have the opportunity to compete in person for the first time in almost two years.  Most of our students have never had the chance to do face-to-face competition in front of a judge, and I think it is energizing our students and program in some super exciting ways,” said coach Lyle Wiley.

There were also several great individual finishes.

Jean-Luc Willson finished 1st in LD Debate and 3rd in Congressional Debate.

Jacob Randall took 2nd in Extemporaneous Speaking.

Elizabeth Keller and Joey Butler tied for 3rd in LD Debate.

Kiesha Kraushaar finished 1st in Informative Speaking.

River Quintanilla captured 5th in Dramatic Interpretation.

Logan Petty, Madeline Wagler, Elizabeth Keller and Jarek Jeffs all had a great showing in Congress.

Chris Bapst, Riley O’Brien and Kalebh Nelson all finished in the top twelve in Extemporaneous Speaking.

Madeline Wagler finished in the top 7 of POI.

Rosalie Willson, Delayni Custer and Kiesha Kraushaar finished in the top 8 of LD debate.

“Students performed very well at the tournament.  Our seniors are especially stepping up and competing at a high level.  Our new competitors are also making strides, and we’re starting to see that in performance,” said coach Wiley.

He added, “We definitely have high expectations for our program, and it is exciting to start the year with a tournament victory in sweepstakes as a team.  These students will continue to work hard to try to make their goals.”

Regarding the trip to and from Jackson, Wiley had this to add, “Our district transportation deserves a lot of praise. We are certainly full of gratitude for our driver and the folks in our district who helped us get home safe with some rough roads and mechanical issues.”

Coach Cindy Glasson added, “Our Bobcats participating in non-debate events had a terrific showing at Jackson. They worked hard to be prepared for their first tournament of the year.”

Coach Glasson went on to talk about the girls saying “Madeline is the only one who had ever traveled to an in-person tournament, so she had some idea what it was going to be like, but for the other girls, this was something completely new. That first time can be daunting, but they stepped up and let everyone there know the Bobcats had arrived.”

She added “I am blown away by what River has been doing with her dramatic piece,” coach Glasson said. “She is not only memorizing the piece, she’s actually presenting it in two languages -- English and American Sign Language. You don’t see that in competition so it is going to make her stand out in the crowd, that’s for sure.”

“Kiesha is a newly minted freshman and has been working pretty hard on a 10-minute performance in informative. She researched three different events, the Jonestown Massacre, Waco and Ruby Ridge, and although they all seem different on the surface, she managed to find a common thread with all three incidents and received excellent feedback from the Jackson judges,” said coach Glasson

She added, “This is the first time Madeline has done an interpretive event. Up until this year, her senior year, she has stuck with debate, extemp and congress, so this is stepping out of her comfort zone. She took an old fable, ‘What walks on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon and three legs at night’ (man - as a baby, as an adult and in old age) and created a piece that touches on all phases of life. She did an excellent job putting it all together.”