Worland speech team looks to improve on last year's second-place finish at state

WORLAND — Now that school has started up again, so has speech and debate. This year, Worland High School coach Rick Dorn has about 30 students competing.

Dorn said that some of the top returners from last year include Paris Caines and Rachael Carver, who are the reigning 3A cross-examination champs in Wyoming. Also returning are Arora Chamberlain, Emily Wheeler and Emily Brown, who are all consistent point earners in their categories, he said.

Clare Neylon and Nathaniel Nelson are both newer members who had outstanding seasons last year as novices, according to Dorn.

Worland has had only one meet, competing in Green River in December. This weekend, Jan. 12-13, they will be competing at Kelly Walsh. Dorn said the team will be competing in the next nine out of 10 weeks all over state.

Looking back at last year, Dorn said the results were amazing. “We won [second] in 3A, and we had two CX teams place second overall. A newer interpretive student took second in humor, and we had several kids do well for us for finals.” Dorn said.

Dorn’s goal this year is to see rapid improvement from the newest team members and to see if the team can compete for the state title this year. Last year, Worland took second behind Riverton’s team.