Speech and debate earns second place trophies twice in same weekend

The Hot Springs County High School Speech and Debate Team hosted a home novice tournament while some varsity students simultaneously competed in an online tournament on December 15-16. The Bobcats finished with two second place 1A/2A trophies: one for the Hot Springs Novice Holiday Miracle tournament and the other for the Lander Invite online tournament.

Coached by Lyle Wiley, Alyssa Brown, Grace Martin, Riley Jeffs and Jean-Luc Willson, the Bobcat varsity students worked the home tournament. Four students competed online while running the tournament at the same time: senior Chris Bapst, junior Kiesha Kraushaar, junior Rosalie Willson, and sophomore Dean Bihr. At the novice home tournament, five Bobcat novices competed: freshman Autumn Cornwell, freshman Annalyn Sharp, freshman Riley Crowder, freshman Hayden Franklin, and sophomore Lucille Andreen.

In the varsity division of the Lander Online tournament, Willson and Bihr both finished with impressive winning records in Lincoln-Douglas Debate (2-1), tying for third place overall. Kraushaar finished in a tie for tournament champion in Dramatic Interpretation, while Bapst finished in eleventh place in a large Congressional Debate group. The small team accumulated enough points to finish second in the tournament in 1A/2A, while also contributing to the work involved with the novice home tournament.

At the home novice tournament, Cornwell finished another strong tournament, capturing first place in Congressional Debate, second place in Dramatic Interpretation, and a tie for first in Public Forum Debate with teammates Sharp and Andreen. Andreen also finished in second place in Poetry Interpretation, while Sharp finished second in Program Oral Interpretation and fourth in Extemporaneous Speaking.

Franklin had an excellent competition as well, finishing as tournament champion in Poetry Interpretation, sixth in Dramatic Interpretation, and fourth in Duo Interpretation with partner Crowder. Crowder also took third place in Original Oratory.

Head Coach Wiley noted the impressive work from the Bobcats on all sides. “The varsity team members were vital to the success of running our last minute home tournament, and several of them still managed to compete and find success,” said Wiley. He added, “The novices give us a lot to be excited about for the future of the team, and I’m confident that our team will continue to grow and improve into the varsity competitive season in January.”

Next up, the Bobcats will be hosting the Hot Springs and Riverside Speech and Debate Tournament to be held at Hot Springs County High School on Friday and Saturday, January 5-6. The tournament will be large with 18 teams registered and over 300 competitive entries.

Anyone interested in judging for this tournament should contact Coach Wiley at Lwiley@hotsprings1.org.