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POWELL, Wyoming — The Northwest College Forensics Team closed the books on its 2014 fall semester season after logging six tournaments and two gold finishes.
The 11-member team got its first feel for this year’s competition Sept. 26-28 when it traveled to Colorado Springs, Colorado, for the Springs Swing, back-to-back tournaments hosted by Colorado College and the United States Air Force Academy.
High placers at the first tournament, which was a debate-only competition, were the open parliamentary debate team of Sean Myers (Powell) and Carter Reed (Cody). The duo claimed fifth in the open division. Reed returned to the podium to collect the second place speaker award in the same event.
In the second tournament, NWC finished first among community colleges, fifth overall among all two- and four-year colleges, and second overall in debate sweepstakes.
Danika Haynes of Rawlins was named first-place speaker in novice parliamentary debate, and Annamarie Victor of Baltimore, Maryland, took third. Myers and Reed teamed up again to take third in open parliamentary debate.
Highest-placing individual events winners were Myers and Josiah Hogan of Powell, who finished third in duet.
The team traveled to Casper College Oct. 9-11 for the Pioneer Trails Tournament where they took first overall. Reed’s contribution to that finish was rewarded with the individual sweepstakes award. Other gold finishers were Josiah Hogan of Powell, who was named top speaker in novice International Public Debate Association (IPDA) and also took first with Myers in duet. Dillon claimed firsts in communication analysis and program oral interpretation, and Reed topped the field in speech to entertain.
At the Al Johnson Invitational Oct. 24-26 in Colorado Springs, Colorado, the NWC squad swept third-place sweepstakes awards for individual events, debate and overall.
Reed and Myers once again claimed the highest NWC placing in open parliamentary debate, this time taking fourth. Highest NWC individual event awards were earned by Myers, who took second in poetry, and Hogan, who scored a second in program oral interpretation.
The NWC team closed the semester by hosting its own tournament, the Trapper Rendezvous, Nov. 6-8. The squad couldn’t compete for overall team awards but accumulated an impressive collection of individual awards.
NWC’s open parliamentary debate teams of Dillon, Hogan, Myers and Reed negated the need for a final round in the event by emerging from semi-finals as the top two finishers.
Hogan and Myers closed out the IPDA finals in the same fashion. Third place in novice parliamentary debate came down to a tie between the NWC teams of Riley and Taylor Moles (Paris, Texas), and Jim Schroeder (Houston, Texas) and Sage Whicker (Lovell).
First, third and fourth open parliamentary speaker awards went to Dillon, Reed and Hogan respectively. Riley and Moles claimed sixth and ninth place speaker awards in the novice parliamentary category.
In individual events, Hogan teamed with two different duet partners to claim first and second in duet and fourth in program oral interpretation. Myers added a first in duet (with Hogan), second in poetry and fifth in prose. Reed took first in impromptu and Lincoln-Douglas debate, second in after-dinner speaking and third in extemporaneous speaking.
Riley added sixth-place awards in prose and poetry; Schroeder contributed a third in novice IPDA and sixth in poetry; Victor claimed thirds in drama and program oral interpretation and fifth in informative. Dillon scored a second place for his duet with Hogan.
The NWC Forensics Team is coached by Duane Fish, Bob Becker and Jeannie Hunt.
They’ll hit the road again Jan. 23-24 to compete at the Lambda Pi Eta Invitational at Metro State University in Denver, Colorado. The regular season spring semester schedule also includes tournaments hosted in Washington by Gonzaga University and Western Washington University, as well as a Zombie Apocalypse Swing in Hutchinson, Kansas.