JACKSON, Wyo.  — This past weekend, the Jackson Hole High School Speech and Debate Team expanded its regular season accomplishments with a 3rd place team finish at the Green River Invitational. The competition was hosted virtually by Green River High School and JHHS was one of 25 schools in attendance.
Josh Hansen, senior and team captain, was named the champion in the Congressional Debate and junior Lily Briggs placed 4th in the event.
At the tournament, Duo Interpretation proved to be fruitful for the Jackson squad as sophomores Julieta Anaya and Blanca Sartillo placed 4th. Â Maya Worcester teamed up with sophomore Sophie Lamb to place 3rd and Hansen joined junior Will Aepli in the event to take home 2nd place. Sophomore Bohdan Barnett and junior Carter Worcester made it to the semi-final round.
In Extemporaneous Speaking, sophomore Alexis Hernandez found success, where he finished in 6th place. Bohdan Barnett also reached the semi-finals round of Informative Speaking and Briggs reached the semi-finals in Program Oral Interpretation. Hansen rounded out his top finishes at Green River by placing 7th in Impromptu Speaking.
The weekend prior, the Jackson team competed in both the Camel Classic and The Harvard National Forensics Tournament. Freshman Sascha Mizelle found success in the Lincoln Douglas debate where she finished with 3 wins and 1 loss but missed advancing to the semifinal round based on a tie-breaker. She went on to reach the semi-finals in Storytelling. Sophomores Ventura Garcia Perez and Maya Worcester along with freshman James Neishabouri reached the semi-final round of the event as well.
At the Camel Classic, Barnett continued his success in Informative Speaking where he finished in 6th. He went on to partner with Worcester in Duo Interpretation where they reached the semi-final round. Â Additionally, sophomore Jheili Montiel Huerta reached the semi-finals of Extemporaneous Speaking.
At the Harvard tournament, the Jackson squad found success in Congressional Debate. Hansen was ranked 1st in his preliminary chamber of the event and went on to the octafinals round. Aepli was able to make it to the quarter-finals of the event and earned a bid to the Tournament of Champions tournament to be held this spring. The Jackson team earned a 5th place sweepstakes award among schools attending the tournament for the first time.
“The diversity of the team in multiple events was apparent at these past few tournaments. Our students keep displaying that they are competitive with the best in the state and beyond. We are excited to keep growing as a team as we head into our final preliminary tournaments of the season,” said JHHS Speech and Debate Team Coach Londe Gagnon.
