Speech team second in Gillette

The Thermopolis Bobcat Speech and Debate team returned home from the Camel Classic in Gillette with a second place finish.

Seven members of the team attended the two-day tournament with a few bringing home personal wins to go along with the team trophy.

For the second tournament in a row, Kameron Olsen moved into the final round of Lincoln Douglas (LD) debate undefeated. He placed second, losing on a split, 1-2 ballot, in finals.

“Kam (Olsen) has found his niche,” coach Cindy Glasson said. “Its great to see the look on his face every time he moves up one more round. Some debaters from other schools around the state get a little cocky, but Kam is one of those that is very humble, very quiet about his success.”

Olsen also brought home a fourth place in extemp, an event that requires participants to choose one of three topics then they have 30-minutes to prepare a five to seven minute speech about current events.

Darren Leonhardt edged Olsen out in the competition, bringing home the third place trophy.

“With Darren (Leonhardt) it’s totally political,” Glasson said. “His favorite thing to do is use a Donald Trump analogy or quote somewhere in his speech, usually poking fun at him. Its a bit risky in a conservative state, but Darren is able to pull it off so well because by the end of the speech he’s got you convinced he’s right.”

Other members of the team did well, too.

Amanda Dinsmore moved into semi-finals with her drama piece, but missed out on semis with her humor selection this week.

“This was a pretty strange meet for Amanda [Dinsmore],” said Glasson. “At most tournaments there are seven or eight competitors in each round. In Gillette, for some reason, they narrowed it down to just four or five in each round That meant you had to place first or second in your round in order to move on to semis. Unfortunately, Amanda had straight thirds on her ballots and missed going further by just three points.”

In her first foray out with the team this year, senior Aressa Goodrich advanced to semi finals in oratory. Missing finals by just a couple of points has made Goodrich even more determined for the rest of the season.

Once again, Patience Moore just barely missed moving into semis, missing the cut by a single point.

Wyatt Wright improved his performance in both LD and extemp this week, pulling a 2-2 split in debate and straight 4th places in extemp, showing some good consistency in his performance. Fellow LD’er and extemp’er Rhett Richmond also had a 2-2 split in LD.

The team will be taking a little break for more in-depth practice before their next tournament, the Teton Classic in Jackson Hole, February 5-6.