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POWELL, Wyoming — Northwest College forensics students were busy hosting the 45th annual Trapper Rendezvous Forensics Tournament Nov. 5-7 but not too busy to outshine the competition in the awards presentation.
Nine two- and four-year colleges traveled from Wyoming, Montana, Utah and Colorado to participate in the event. NWC doesn’t compete for team recognition during the home tournament, but its members can collect individual awards. They collected enough of those to claim the top spot on the two-year college scoreboard and second overall, if they had been eligible for team awards.
Trapper standouts include Clinton Cordova of Greybull who took first in drama, second in duet and second in after-dinner speaking. Jarelly Castro, also of Greybull, placed fifth in program oral interpretation.
Nora Minch of Billings, Montana, took first in prose, third in duet and fourth in drama. Josey Nickles of Powell and Sam Niklitschek of Chile placed first with their duet. Bianca Larsen, also of Powell, took fourths in persuasion and Lincoln-Douglas debate.
Emily Myers of Worland claimed second in communication analysis, third in duet and fourth in program oral interpretation. Rock Springs’ Meghan Patton took second in duet and in drama.
Completing the trophy haul were Marcus Thomas of Powell who placed fifth in drama, and Taylor Moles of Paris, Texas, who took third in communication analysis and fourth in after-dinner speaking.
Cordova and Niklitschek teamed up to claim first place in novice parliamentary debate; Larsen and Moles finished fourth overall in open parliamentary debate.
Prior to the home tournament, the NWC team competed in late October at the Al Johnson Invitational in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Cordova led the Trapper finishers there with a third in after-dinner speaking. Nickles and Myers matched that for their novice parliamentary debate performance.
Minch, Moles, Myers and Nickles all earned fourths in duet, after-dinner speaking, duet and program oral interpretation, respectively. Myers also picked up sixth in program oral interpretation, and Patton took seventh in poetry.
The Trappers, coached by Bob Becker, Jeannie Hunt and Greg Thomas, will be back on the road the first weekend in December to compete at the Western Classic in Rocks Springs.