Members of the Powell High School Speech and Debate team placed second Jan. 4-5 in the Sweepstakes Awards at the Northwest Trapper Rendezvous Speech and Debate Tournament.

Seniors Bennett Walker placed in the quarterfinals, senior Shaelynn Theriault placed in the semi-finals and senior Lucy Sullivan placed in the finals and received second place in L-D (Lincoln Douglas) Debate. Junior Nick Fulton and senior Aidan Hunt advanced to finals and was second in Duo.

Not only was the team competing against other teams from around the state they competed against teams from Montana.

“Teams in Wyoming are just starting our varsity season,” head coach Ms. Nicole Maier Reitz said. “Montana teams are at the end at their season. This means that the competition from Montana has been performing their pieces for several months now.”

Although this was a challenging competition, the Powell Panthers let nothing stand in their way.

“I am so proud of the team for their performance at this meet,” Ms. Maier Reitz said. “The pride the team shared at the end of the ceremony was truly priceless.”

The Speech and Debate team will compete this weekend at Kelly Walsh then the following weekend in Gillette.

The team consists of 25 members. They practice Monday-Thursday, 3:45-5 p.m. Although there are 25 members 15-18 compete. The events that members participate in include: humor, poetry, POI (program oral interpretation), duo, dramatic interpretation, extemporaneous, oratory, informative, Lincoln-Douglas debate and public forum debate.

Students commonly compete in two of these events each week. However, a few compete in three.

A renewed interest in Speech and Debate has increased the number of participants.

“One of our goals is to bring back to Powell a state championship,” Ms. Maier Reitz said.