Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Worland High School Speech and Debate Team members Collin Ketterling, Kylee Vorisek, Justice Nelson, Ian Paxton and Zach Fernandez run the concession booth at Worlando Beach on Friday, Jan. 13, 2023. The Worland-hosted speech meet raised money for the Corina Scholarship via a tip jar and raffle.
Worland High School Speech and Debate team finished third place overall for 3A in Jackson last weekend, according to Coach Rick Dorn.
Chase Johnson and Lexani Damiano took first place in cross examination debate, Myles Lass and Jorden Valli tied for third in Lincoln-Douglas (LD) debate, and Kaydence Mosley and Tori Colwell took sixth place for duo interpretation. Kendra Naasz took fourth place for poetry, Justice Nelson went to semifinals in oratory, and Luis Matamoros and Tessa Barnhill went to semifinals in extemporaneous debate. Chase Johnson also took fifth place in congressional debate.
Prior to the Jackson tournament, the team competed in tournaments in Thermopolis and Green River, earning fifth place overall at both.
Dorn said "We have a fun team this year. We lost some strength last year but hopefully the younger ones can pick up some of the slack." He cited last year's season as reason to not be worried about standings just yet, in which the Worland team didn't win any tournaments for most of the season but came back and placed second overall in 3A at the state meet.
Worland also recently hosted the Worlando Beach Speech and Debate Tournament the weekend of Jan. 13. Dorn said he was pleased with how it went and how his team helped run the event. He said "The weather wasn't cooperating so we had a couple of schools not make it, but we had 18 schools here."
Awards were given out to students and coaches during the event to recognize outstanding individual or team efforts. The Efficiency Award was given to the team that obtained the most points versus how many entries they had, which was given to Sheridan. The Individual Award was given to the student that earns the most points for their team, which was given to a member of Lander's team. The Herr T Award was introduced at this year's tournament to commemorate Kevin Tonkovich and his more than 30 years as a Worland Speech and Debate coach. Tonkovich passed away earlier this year, and Dorn said "We wanted to make sure to do something to remember him." The award in his namesake recognizes an outstanding coach and was given to Dan Parson of Green River.
As for upcoming events, Dorn said that the team will be going to Natrona County High School in Casper on Jan. 27 to compete.
He also shared that during an upcoming Greybull Speech and Debate tournament Feb. 17 and 18, due to space limitations there would be limited entries for competitors. Dorn said that given these limitations, he would take the opportunity to send some of his team to attend a Model Arab League event in Laramie that same weekend. He described the event as a mock United Nations session, and said it would be the first time he has had students participate in it.
