TORRINGTON – The Torrington Speech and Debate Team ended an emotional and successful season last weekend at the Wyoming State Speech Tournament hosted by Lander High School. The three-day tournament on March 8-10 featured 34 teams from all over Wyoming in all three classes and hundreds of top-flight competitors in 12 debate, platform, and interpretative events.

Trailblazer Speech and Debate saw a number of strong individual performances at the State Tournament, including some high overall finishes in events. Seniors, Kaylynn Clapper and Madelyn Burks both broke into the semifinal rounds of the large tournament.

Clapper finished second in 3A in Extemporaneous Speaking, earning All-State Honors. Clapper and her debate partner, Angelica Walberg, also went 3-3 in Public Forum Debate, finishing very close to a break into quarterfinals. This capped a stellar season for the senior from Southeast, Clapper, who will also earn Academic All-American honors for her efforts in Speech and Debate. Burks finished fourth in 3A in Dramatic Interpretation with her powerful interpretation of the book, Wonder by R. J. Palacio. She also came one placing short of breaking into semifinals in Poetry Interpretation. 

Tobi Medina and Koby Ringle saw difficult competition in Lincoln-Douglas Debate, but both won two debates claiming a 2-4 record. Ringle also very nearly broke into semifinals in Extemporaneous Speaking. The Public Forum debate team of Mckenna Russell and Jared Clapper won two debates and lost four close debates. Gareth Haines fought through a cold to compete in Humor. Theona Haines nearly broke semis in Poetry Interpretation with her piece about fairy tales and childhood. Dani Clapper had some high and consistent placings with her Original Oratory about the importance of sleep and nearly broke into semifinals. Sarah Hawkins recited her memorized original speech about superiority complexes in Informative Speaking. Mason Brummell brought out his inner politician with a solid showing in Student Congress.

The long Speech and Debate season started for the young Trailblazer Speech and Debate the first week in October, and coaches lauded the hard work and dedication each student competitor brought to the activity. The youth of the team and new membership meant many growing pains, but the team has matured and performed extremely well. Second-year Assistant Coach, Zach Bearnson praised the young team saying, “When you have a team this young, it can be frustrating for them to not see as much success as they would like. From a coaching perspective though, you get to see students make leaps and bounds and do incredible things. They may be a bit of a pain sometimes, but the growth that I’ve seen these kids go through over the past season makes it all worth it.”

Kinlee Whitney, a competitor for EWC Speech and first-year assistant coach, found joy coaching the young performers. “I’ve been a part of the Speech and Debate community for the majority of my life,” said Whitney, “I love performing, but I don’t think there’s a greater satisfaction than watching a student perform and succeed. I’ve never been more proud of a group of people in my entire life.”

Lyle Wiley, in his fourth season as Head Coach, reflected on the team’s accomplishments over the season. “It has been an incredible team year,” he said, “with a number of significant team achievements. This team generated more merits and collective points than any team I have coached. They embraced a team approach and came together to really build something special. I am so proud of these coaches and students.” 

Torrington Speech and Debate ended the season ranked in the top five (3A) for strength rating in both the Hole in the Wall District and in the State of Wyoming.