Novices continue to gain experience

Competition is getting stiff for the Carbon County School District No. 2 (CCSD#2) Speech and Debate Team.

The team has been experiencing individual gains, but as a team, they have found the last two competitions challenging, according to head coach Brenda Ostendorf.

At the tournament at Cheyenne Central, the duet team of Milo Hunter and Bradley Killion made it into semi-finals for the first time this season.

Hunter joined the speech team for the first time this year and this is Killion's second year. The boys are friends and seem to feed off of each others strength in the humor duet.

Killion's part of the duet is an eccentric teenager who develops an idea after hearing about a superhero in a butter costume. Killion's character begins to foster the idea of using a toaster to fight crime.

Hunter plays the brother, who is the voice of reason, and the two argue why using a toaster to fight crime is a reasonable thought.

The duo continually make changes to their piece so it doesn't become boring and mundane, Killion said.

Hunter said the piece is perfect for the two of them, because in real life Hunter is the voice of reason and Killion likes to do "random stuff".

Larrisa Ford and Robin Gloss have been friends for so long, they finish each other sentences, which works for them in the Public Forum competition.

At the Cheyenne Central meet, the pair won three of four debates.

Gloss explained there are three types of two on two debates, a first and second speaker and a resolution. Ford explained that in between each speaker, the other team has a crossfire. That is when the real expertise on the subject comes in because the girls needs to be able to defend their side of the argument with facts.

The girls have to be prepared to debate both sides of the subject, which requires a lot of research on their part, Ford said.

The girls have a new subject every month, which they have around one month to research. Gloss said using note cards helps. While the girls are still figuring out how the program works, they are making progress by learning how to debate and not developing their own opinion as it interferes with their debate process.

Ford said they know their facts, but they also have a print out. Many teams depend on their computer, but if there is a technical glitch with the computer, they are not able to retrieve their notes as easily, Ford said.

"We are really great friends," Ford said of why they chose Public Forum. "My sister is the one who recommended it to us and thought we would be great at it."

"You have to know your partner really well, so you have an idea of what they are going to say," Gloss said.

Jacob Dickinson placed third in drama and sixth in oratory this past weekend at the Kelly Walsh Speech and Debate tournament.

Ostendorf said 500 students from 28 schools and three states competed at the Kelly Walsh Tournament. Strong showings in the congress and debate arenas contributed to the rankings of the other schools. "These are areas Saratoga is developing," Ostendorf said.

The next speech meet is Friday and Saturday at Gillette High School.