Speech team earns state championship

For the second time in two years, the Carbon County School District No. 2 Speech and Debate Team took home a 1A/2A State Champion Trophy from last weekend's 2014 Wyoming State High School Speech and Debate Tournament.

The team took first place overall out of eight 1A and 2A teams at the event, which took place Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Western Wyoming Community College in Rock Springs. The state tournament consisted of 31 teams and 353 competitors, and featured around 90 coaches and judges.

In their bid for the 1A/2A championship title, several CCSD#2 team members received individual or dual recognition for their pieces. Kaylyn Wessel and Becca Treat placed first in the 1A/2A duet division, and sixth overall in duet out of 40 duos (for "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult). Wessel also placed second in 1A/2A poetry, and fifth overall in poetry out of 60 competitors (for "Postcards" by Sarah Kay, and "Shrinking Woman" by Lily Myers).

Jacob Dickinson and his partner earned a third-place medal in 1A/2A duet (for "Major Marvelous" by David J. LeMaster), and overall were in the top 12 for the semi-final round. Gale Jackson received a first-place medal in the 1A/2A humor division (for "Not Ready Yet"), and also made the top 12 for semi-finals.

The team's 1A/2A All-State awardees announced were Wessel, Treat, Freeman (all three of whom are the team's seniors and co-captains) and Dickinson. The four students received the honor based on their total individual points earned from years in high school speech and debate.

Other highlights included CCSD#2 Speech and Debate Team Coach Brenda Ostendorf being nominated for 1A/2A Coach of the Season for a second year, and Wessel was one of 13 students out of 353 to be nominated for the State Ambassador Award. Four out of the 13 actually received the award at the tournament.

"It's an award that goes out to the most well-rounded speech and debate team members, and it's based on how well you do during the season and how many years you've been doing it," Wessel said. "They look at how you've improved from freshman year to whichever year you're in now, and how you encourage your team. I think I've done decent throughout high school, and speech is something that has come natural to me. For the last few years I've been doubling and tripling, and this year I've competed in three different events and been trying to help out my team."

Team members are now preparing for the Wind River District National Qualifier Forensics Tournament, held at Central Wyoming College in Riverton this Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Wessel will transition from the category of poetry to drama during the district tournament, performing an excerpt from the novel "January First" by Michael Schofield, while other competitors will remain with their current selections.