JACKSON, Wyo. — On December 18 and 19, the Jackson Hole High School Speech & Debate Team competed in the virtual “Holiday Classic” hosted by Cheyenne East High School. The meet proved to be the largest and most challenging of the year, with 500 entries from 58 teams competing from over 15 different states. The team, coached by Londe and Peggy Gagnon, ultimately tied with powerhouse Cherry Creek High School from Colorado for their 7th place finish in sweepstakes.
This is the final tournament of the season that will host a novice category of events. And the Jackson novices thrived during the weekend. Junior Sarah Schweitzer was the Novice Extemporaneous Speaking champion. Sophomore Sophie Lamb tied for second place in the event but was awarded 3rd place due to a tiebreaker. Sophomore Jackson Neishabouri placed 7th in the event.
Lamb went on to place 2nd in Novice Lincoln Douglas Debate. She spent the weekend arguing both sides of whether or not the United States should provide a federal jobs guarantee.
Sophomore Julieta Anaya placed 4th in Varsity Humorous Interpretation with her rendition of “A Step-by-Step Guide to Dating Someone You Met on the Internet” by Stephanie Christense. Julieta went on to team with sophomore Blanca Sartillo Mejia in Varsity Duo Interpretation where they reached semi-finals.
Senior & team captain Joshua Hansen had a stellar weekend in Varsity Congressional Debate where he came away with the championship. Junior Will Aepli was close behind finishing in 2nd while junior Carter Worcester brought home 5th.
Sophomore Bohdan Barnett had a successful weekend in Varsity Informative Speaking where he narrowly missed the semi final round by one placing. Senior & team captain Preston Harmon also had a similar situation in Varsity Extemporaneous Speaking, missing the break to semi finals by one placing.
Coach Gagnon commented, “This is a tournament where students need to execute nearly flawless performances to break out of preliminary rounds. Everyone on our team benefited from facing the depth of competition present in Cheyenne. Because this was a Tournament of Champions qualifying tournament, the caliber of students present was very high. We are very excited for the growth our team continues to show and all the accomplishments they have made so far.”
The team will compete next at a tournament hosted by Thunder Basin in Gillette on Jan 8-9 where all students will compete in the varsity category of events.
