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Talkin Tigers finish fourth at Rocky Mtn. Classic event
The Mountain Home Speech and Debate team, The Talkin' Tigers. placed fourth among 28 schools at the Rocky Mountain Classic in Meridian Nov. 21, despite many of the top performers missing the tournament or the finals of the tournament, due to district drama competition.
Mountain Home was strong in Student Congress as Hannah Loomis was the top speaker in her session for the second straight week. The previous week, Loomis was a top speaker at the Hillcrest Joust in Idaho Falls.
Nick Duvall was also a top speaker at Hillcrest the previous week and followed with a first-place finish at Rocky Mountain.
The Talkin' Tigers turned in a solid effort in debate as well, with the team of Ben Cumber and Erika Sabol finishing third in Varsity Public Forum Debate. This was the third time this season the pair have finished third or better at a tournament.
Austin Lucas and Joshua Saporta, a pair of freshman, were quarterfinalists in Novice Public Forum Debate to earn their first trophies.
In Lincoln-Douglas Debate, team captain Rebecca Smith posted a perfect 4-0 record in the preliminary rounds but lost her quarter-final round to finish fifth in the varsity division.
Dustin Paille, a freshman, was also a perfect 4-0 in the preliminary rounds but lost his quarterfinal match to finish fifth in the novice category.
In speech events, Betsy Lynn was perfect in all three of her preliminary rounds of Expository Speaking and finished second in the final.
Melodie Lettkeman finished third in Dramatic Interpretation.
Chase Bennett, Alyssa Cannavo and Christina Trouten were nearly perfect in the preliminary rounds of Dramatic Interpretation and easily qualified for the finals on Saturday. However, the trio had to compete at the district drama at the same time on Saturday.
Shelby Stevens, Laura Porter and Amanda Raines all turned in strong performances in the preliminary rounds of speech and just missed the finals by one place, advisor John Petti said.
The speech and debate team turned in another strong performance recently at the Whitman College Speech and Debate Tournament in Walla Walla, Washington.
Out of the 44 schools in attendance, the Talkin' Tigers were fourth in speech and eighth overall in the three-day tournament that attracts teams from Utah, Idaho, Oregon, California, Washington and Canada.
Mountain Home High School was the only school to have winners in three speech events.
Alyssa Cannavo was first in Humorous Interpretation with teammate Christina Trouten finishing third in the event. Cannavo and Trouten also combined to finish fourth in Duo Interpretation.
Bridget Sinerius was first in Championship Serious Interpretation. It was the ninth time in ten tournaments Sinerius has won the event. Her only loss came at nationals last summer in Birmingham, Ala.
Joann King was the winner of Junior Dramatic Interpretation with teammate Melodie Lettkeman finishing second to complete the 1-2 sweep for Mountain Home.
Chase Bennett was fourth in Championship Humorous Interpretation while Hannah Holland was fourth in Interpretive Reading.
Mountain Home students also did well in Student Congress as Nick Duvall was voted Top Presiding Officer of the House. Duvall was also the fourth best speaker while teammate Melodie Lettkeman was third. Rebecca Smith also qualified for Super Congress.
Jacob Larson earned the award as fifth best speaker in the Senate.
In debate, the Public Forum team of Erika Sabol and Ben Cumber finished in third place with a record of 5-1. The pair have posted a 9-1 record so far this year.
Chasity Custer was top speaker in Public Forum Debate while Cumber was fifth. In Policy Debate, Melodie Lettkeman was honored as the fifth best speaker.
The Mountain Home Talkin' Tigers split the squad last weekend as 31 students attended the Lions and Christians tournament at Borah High School.
The novice students shined in debate as the team of Matt Patterson and James McGovern finished third. The pair posted a 4-2 record, losing in the semi-finals. The team of Mikala Teague and Matt Ryan were quarter-finalists, finishing fifth in Novice Public Forum.
In Novice Lincoln-Douglas debate, Doug Watkins finished third with a 4-2 record. The freshman lost a 2-1 decision in his semi-final round.
In speech, the advanced students did well with Shelby Stevens finishing third in Dramatic Intepretation.
Hannah Loomis was a finalist in both Impromptu Speaking and Expository Speaking with Daniella Stratton finishing as a finalist in Panel Discussion. Arianna Montgomery was a finalist in after dinner speaking.
The Speech and Debate team also turned in one of its best ever performances two weeks ago as the Talkin' Tigers finished second among 28 high schools attending the Hillcrest Joust in Idaho Falls.
Mountain Home finished behind host Hillcrest in the largest speech and debate tournament in Idaho. The Talkin' Tigers were strong in Speech and Debate and were easily the best team at the tournament in Student Congress.
Melodie Lettkeman and Hannah Loomis were each the best in their house of student congress with Nick Duvall, Robert Welle and Dani Lord earning award as top five speakers.
In debate, the Varsity Policy team of Raif Armstrong and Chelsea Wegrzyniak lost a 2-1 split decision in the final to finish second. The pair was a perfect 6-0 going into the final round before losing the close decision to a team from Hillcrest.
Liz Cook paced the Lincoln-Douglas debaters as the sophomore was 5-0 in the preliminary rounds before losing in the semi-finals to finish third. Freshman Coby Bobzien earned a quarterfinalist award as he won three of his first four rounds before bowing out in the quarter finals.
The Talkin' Tigers were strong once again in the speech category as 11 of the 14 students in speech events earned a spot in the championship round. Sophomore Joann King won the dramatic interpretation event for the second straight week.
Mountain Home had two of the seven finalists in duo interpretation with the team of Alyssa Cannavo and Christina Trouten finishing second and the team of Ryan Pennington and Melodie Lettkeman finishing third.
In expository speaking, Mountain Home had three of the eight finalists. Miriam Forrest finished second with Laura Porter fifth and Patricia Wade sixth.
In spontaneous argumentation, both of the policy debaters, Raif Armstrong and Chelsea Wegrzyniak, advanced to the finals with Armstrong finishing third and Wegrzyniak sixth after posting perfect scores in her three preliminary rounds.
Dani Lord finished fourth in original oratory to complete the Talkin' Tigers performance.