By Trista Ostrom
Powwow Page Editor

The so-called impossible has been done! The Powell High School Speech and Debate team has worked their way to a sixth state championship. State was held in Riverton over the weekend of March 11th – 13th. The team, led by Mrs. Laura Riley and Ms. Marianne Unquera, was skeptical entering the season due to the change in coaching staff. Change was upon the team, but it was the way members chose to handle it that was key to their success. In fact, members took on two new coaches with welcoming arms and let a sixth state championship become of it.
Overall, Powell swept all of the 4A teams off of their feet. With an impressive forty-five points, Powell beat out Green River, a 4A school, who came in with thirty-nine points followed by Natrona, Cheyenne East, and Worland, a 3A school. Each team is allowed eighteen entries and of those spots, fifteen of Powell’s entries broke into the out rounds; also known as quarter, semi, and final rounds. In addition, ten events are offered at the state competition, and Powell broke into the out rounds in eight of those events and produced a top ten finisher in each of those events.
Individually, members prepared for the state competition; therefore turning the competition in their favor. Saige Smith and Jason Harker argued their way to a second place finish in Policy Debate, an amazing accomplishment for the complexity of the debate. Due to an unfortunate event, Lisa Shiermeister forfeited her final round to Green River, thus settling for the second place medal, but first in the 3A division. Another surprisingly, yet exciting finish was Kyle Gilman who had only taken part in Lincoln Douglas debate one other time and walked away with a third place medal, first in the 3A division. Senior, Chris Padilla advanced as far as the octafinals.
Oratory, an event that has just surfaced on the Powell team, brought success to the team. Rachel Bjornestad advanced into the semi-finals and Mallory Riley was fortunate enough to combine skill and passion to finish second, first in 3A. Humor is yet another event that was reviving on the team this year. Philip Schmidt began Humor for the first time this year and was able to advance all the way to a fifth place finish, second in 3A. Although all finishes were impressive, Schmidt’s and Riley’s were remarkable due to the lack in participation in years past.
Drama, Extemp, Poetry, and Student Congress were all events that had fantastic results for Powell as well. In Drama, Rachel Bjornestad was able to work her way to a fifth place finish, but second in 3A. Kyle Gilman, a sophomore, received fifth place in Extemp, an event he previously has qualified for nationals in. Poetry contestants Megan Moore and Matthew Condie advanced to the semi-finals, but were not able to advance from there. Condie is the previous Poetry state champion from 2009. The final event, Student Congress, was entered by Padilla, Condie, and Schmidt. All three advanced to Super Congress which is equivalent to semi-finals, but did not advance from there. All in all team members went to state with a goal in mind and would not settle for anything less.
“It makes a coach proud,” says past coach Jack Brimhall. Although Brimhall was unable to attend the event to cheer on his former team, he was with the team in spirit and his enthusiasm remained within all of his students.
Students were in fact unsure of the team’s success this year; however, each member stepped up to the plate and offered their best in order to create a once again state champion team. “I didn’t know how the team would do under new leadership; however, it was TOTALLY AWESOME to experience a state championship, let alone a sixth state championship,” said junior, Megan Moore. This was Moore’s first year competing at the state tournament, thus making the experience of winning all the better. Junior Rachel Bjornestad noted “It was cool to ensure we still have it.” Bjornestad will be a senior next year and one of the team leaders due to her experience and knowledge of the various events.
In addition to the state tournament, the national qualifying tournament was held in Worland over March 4th – 6th. Powell was able to produce three national qualifiers from the tournament as well as several runner-ups. Matthew Condie qualified in Senate and Humor, a phenomenal accomplishment. Chris Padilla qualified in Lincoln Douglas debate and Kyle Gilman qualified for the second year in a row to compete in Domestic Extemp, topics having to do with issues within the United States. “Qualifying for Nationals the second time was definitely a major accomplishment that I had hoped to achieve this season,” said Gilman. Gilman is only a sophomore, thus ensuring a positive contribution to Powell’s Speech and Debate team in the future. Condie and Gilman, due to former commitments, are unable to attend the national tournament this year; however, Padilla will represent Powell in Kansas City, Missouri in June.
Team members are already coming together to plan fund raisers in order to support their teammate attending the national tournament. Possibilities include a banquet dinner in order to promote Speech and Debate in the community as well as to raise the necessary funds needed for Padilla to travel and compete in Kansas City.
Former coach Jack Brimhall coached the team to five of the state championships and most recently Karen Roles assisted in coaching two of the state championships. Riley and Unquera came in with quite a bit of experience under their belts; therefore, they were able to walk in and pick up where the team left off last year. In fact, Riley was part of a small group who started the forensics team at Casper College. Additionally, she competed there after being a member of the team in high school and the University of Wyoming. Riley has coached many national qualifiers at the various schools where she has coached and in that time has produced numerous state champions.
Next year’s team will lose six seniors: Saige Smith, Jason Harker, Matthew Condie, Nick Pierson, Philip Schmidt, and Chris Padilla. Although these seniors were a great asset to the team, it is believed that the team will only continue on with success. In addition to the several freshmen, sophomores, and juniors moving up, it is the hope of the team to recruit several future freshmen in order to capture interest in the program.
Powell Speech and Debate has once again proven to be the best team in the state of Wyoming. Team members entered the season with little faith from their peers, supporters, and competitors; however, they not only won the state 3A Sweepstakes, but they beat every 4A team competing as well. Matthew Condie, a senior, stated, “A lot of people, including our state-wide competitors, did not have any faith in us due to loss of seniors and coaches, but we basically owned them!”
Speech and Debate prepares students for their futures by providing them the opportunity to gain communication skills, public speaking skills, and enables them to accurately articulate information. Speech and Debate has done an outstanding job of representing Powell at all state level events and congratulations are most definitely in order.