Speech and debate team off to fast start
From Staff Reports, Jackson Hole, Wyo.
November 16, 2009
The Jackson Hole High School speech and debate team started its 2009-10 season with a first-place finish Friday and Saturday at the Green River Speech Tournament.
Jackson finished first among 3A schools at Green River High School and beat six of the seven 4A schools competing. Only 4A Natrona County High School scored higher than the Jackson squad.
Seniors Brandon Kapelow and Duncan McLaurin led the way for the Broncs, taking first place in the varsity division of public forum debate. Sophomore Caitlin Wunsch and freshman Addie Henderson took third place in the novice division.
In student congress, Kapelow placed first in the varsity division, followed by McLaurin in second place.
“Seeing such a strong performance at the year’s first tournament is a testament to the potential of our team,” Kapelow said. “I am thrilled to see such a high level of performance from both novice and varsity team members.”
In Lincoln Douglas debate, senior Mark Langer and sophomore Jessica Moore advanced to the semifinal round and tied for third place.
Langer also placed sixth in varsity international extemporaneous speaking.
Freshman Michael Redzich placed first in novice domestic extemporaneous speaking and also received a first-place trophy in novice student congress.
Seniors Connor Nay and Sam Wittig took second and fifth, respectively, in varsity poetry interpretation.
The sophomore varsity duet interpretation team of Tara Holmes and Sally Morton placed second. Sophomore Alex Nye took second place in novice dramatic interpretation.
Sophomore Aidan Deiter advanced to semifinals in varsity humorous interpretation and qualified for super congress. Sophomore Alex Duncker advanced to varsity semis in poetry interpretation, while Cheyenne Holton reached semis in varsity dramatic interpretation.
Jackson brought 21 of its 40 members to compete with more than 300 students at the meet.
“With nearly half the team absent from this tournament due to other activity conflicts,” coach Mark Houser said, “we are very pleased with our overall showing as well as the number of individual successes from those students who did travel.”
