The Bobcat Speech and Debate team will be representing Hot Springs County High School at the National Speech and Debate Tournament this summer in Salt Lake City.
Three seniors will be traveling to Utah in June after placing at the National Qualifiers Tournament in Riverton at Central Wyoming College last weekend.
Kameron Olsen will compete at Nationals in Lincoln-Douglas debate after going undefeated at the qualifying tournament, finishing the weekend with an 8-0 record. Amanda Dinsmore and Eryn Ronbinson will take the National stage with their duet, finishing in the top three at qualifiers.
“I said at the beginning of the season that Kam (Olsen) would be the guy to beat in LD and he more than proved he was qualified,” coach Cindy Glasson said. “We've joked about the ‘curse of State’ over the years, where if a student doesn't do so well at the State Tournament they're going to excel at Nat Quals, and Kam proved that curse works. He had a pretty rough time at State, getting tossed out of competition fairly early, only to come back this weekend and thoroughly trounce his competition.”
Amanda Dinsmore and Eryn Robinson will also be representing the Cats at Nationals with their duet, finishing in the top three in Riverton.
“I knew early on this piece was going to take them places. It is so powerful they've had judges burst into tears and have to leave the room to compose themselves. I've had comments from coaches all across the state that couldn't understand why they weren't placing higher at tournaments. I guess they were just waiting for the right time,” said Glasson
Although he didn't qualify for Nationals, senior Darren Leonhardt is slated as first runner-up in extemp, so if something precludes one of the top three qualifiers from attending the national event, he will be slid into their spot.
This will be the team's 15th trip to the National Tournament. It will be held June 10-17.
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