Speech team hosts tourney

Hot Springs County High School’s speech team hosted the Bobcat Invitational Speech and Debate tournament last Saturday with nearly 200 students from across the state attending.

Eleven schools were represented including Lovell, Cody, Powell, Jackson, Kelly Walsh, Greybull, Star Valley, Wyoming Indian, Torrington, Riverside and Worland.

“This tournament was twice the size of our tournament last year,” coach Cindy Glasson said. “We have traditionally held our tournament just before Christmas break to give competitors a little bit of a jump start.

“Everyone competes on a varsity level starting in January, so we provide both novice and varsity events so the new kids can get a feel for what they’re going to be coming up against once the season goes into full swing.”

“The Bobcat team worked their hearts out to run a successful tourney,” coach Lyle Wiley added. “The tournament was a community effort and we could not have done it without the support from the school district and the Thermopolis community.”

For many of the judges it was their first time seeing how speech and debate works and they were thrilled to see not only the competition itself, but how the kids helped each other out throughout the day.

HSCHS English teacher Eric Kay said, “I was impressed with the amount of talent that came to the high school on Saturday.”

The Bobcat team will continue to practice throughout Christmas break in order to be ready for competition in January.

Their first meet will be January 11-12 at Kelly Walsh in Casper.