February 5th, 2011

The Riverside Speech and Debate team did well this past week at the Mustang Classic Tournament held at Natrona County High School in Casper.  The meet, which is the largest of the year, did ultimately see success for the team.  “Natrona is always a good indicator for State” said assistant coach Wendy Kuper “Essentially every team in the state was in attendance, as well as some South Dakota teams.”

Because of the size of the tournament even breaking into a semifinal round places a competitor in the top 25% of all competitors.  Taking first place in a single round is also praiseworthy at such a meet.  Team member Nicole Riley, competing in drama, took first in all of her drama preliminary rounds,  breaking into semi-finals placing her within the top twelve of the approximately 100 competitors.  Abigail Schallot, competing for the first time at a tournament of this size, managed to take high scores including a first in her preliminary round, and was pleased with her performance.  Performances by other team members including Shelena Coronado, Liberty Miller, Ashley Earl, Amantha Robertson, and  Samantha Kelly were met with approval by the judges.  However the competition was so fierce that they did not advance. 

“Everyone on the team received excellent feedback for what they need to change in their performances, both from judges, and from watching other competitors.” Said head coach Dan Cominotti “since we have the coming weekend off they’ll have some time to change and re-prepare for the local Greybull meet where we hope to meet with considerable success.”

Competitor Dylan Crouse, competing in Extemporaneous Speaking and Congressional Debate saw victory this weekend as well.  Of the ninety-six competitors in Extemporaneous Speaking he broke into finals. Crouse also contended against 160 competitors in Congressional Debate.  Of all the competitors Crouse was the only one to take straight firsts straight through prelims, and into finals.  Crouse, in addition to taking first at the meet, set a new tournament record.  Never before has a competitor in any event managed to take nothing but first place in every round.
The team also placed second in sweepstakes, coming in a hair behind Saratoga who saw success with their interpretive events.  Overall though the team was immensely satisfied that they had managed to hold their own at a tournament of this magnitude.

‘Small but Mighty’ has always been the team slogan, and, with only eight competitors in attendance, yet managing to beat seven other divisional schools, and eleven 3A/4A schools, mighty was still the case.

January 29th, 2011

Riverside Speech traveled to Lander this weekend to compete in the Fremont County Invitational co-hosted by Riverton High School and Lander Valley High School. There were eighteen school in attendance including Greybull and Saratoga--two of the top 1A/2A schools in the state.

Riverside edged both Greybull and Saratoga for the top spot in the 1A/2A sweepstakes competition with two breaking to semi-finals and three breaking into finals. Freshman, Liberty miller broke into the semi-final round of the Humor competition and Sophomore, Nicole Riley broke into the semi-final round of Drama. Sophomore, Amantha Robertson and Junior, Becky Kennedy broke into Super-Congress (the finals of Congressional Debate) and Senior, Dylan Crouse won best speaker in Congressional Debate as well as finishing 2nd in Extemporaneous Speaking.

This has been Riverside's strongest performance of the year and the team is feeling good about the upcoming tournaments as well as the National Qualifying tournament and state.

Next week, RHS travels back to Casper to compete at Natrona County High School in the Mustang Classic, which is one of the biggest tournaments of the year. It is often larger than the state tournament since it draws many schools from other states like South Dakota. Good luck Riverside.

January 18th, 2011

The RHS Speech team competed in the Worlando Beach Invitational over the weekend. The team took second place honors in the 1A/2A sweepstakes awards. Senior, Dylan Crouse helped the team achieve its second place finish with a second place finish in Extemporaneous Speaking and the Best Speaker award in Congressional Debate. Sophomore, Nicole Riley broke into the semi-final round of the Drama competition and freshman, Liberty Miller broke into the semi-finals in Humor. The team has much to be proud of as they prepare for the Fremont County Invitational this coming weekend in Lander. Good luck RHS.

January 17th, 2011

On January 17th and 18th, RHS Speech competed in the Kelly Walsh Invitational in Casper. This was by far the largest tournament of the year for RHS. The competition was stiff and RHS finished third in the 1A/2A rankings. Sophomore, Ian Crouse broke into the Super Congress competition in both the House and Senate and Junior, Becky Kennedy broke in the House. Freshman, Shelena Coronado broke into the semi-final round of the Humor competition.

RHS travels to Worland on Friday for the Worlando Beach Invitational. Good luck.

December 12, 2011

This last weekend, the Riverside Speech and Debate team earned second place in sweepstakes team competition at the 40th Annual Trapper Rendezvous Speech and Debate Tournament at Northwest College in Powell.  Senior Dylan Crouse placed second in Congressional Debate out of a field of 50 competitors.  Freshman Liberty Miller broke into the semi-final round of Dramatic Interpretation.

After a strong performance at the Cody Classic Speech Tournament, Riverside came on strong again as a team against some stiff Montana competition.  Four large Montana high schools attended the Powell tournament.  Montana schools begin competition earlier than Wyoming so their schools were at the end of the season and performed very well.  Riverside students held their own and in some cases beat their Montana competitors. 

This Friday (14th) and Saturday (15th) Riverside travels to Casper to compete in the Kelly Walsh High School Tournament.  Good luck Riverside.

December 21, 2011

The Riverside Speech Team showed strong at the 2010 Cody Classic Invitational on Friday and Saturday. The team won the tournament with a strong showing in five events. Freshman, Shelena Coronado placed first in both Novice Humor and Novice Drama while Freshman, Liberty Miller placed third in the same events. Senior, Dylan Crouse won the best speaker and best chair awards in the Congressional Debate competition. With the overturned decision last week, this is the second straight first place finish for the RHS Speech Team. Good job. After Christmas break, RHS travels to Powell to compete in Northwest Colleges's Trapper Rendezvous. Good luck RHS Speech.

December 14, 2010 - Liberty Miller

*Correction – Since Lovell / Rocky Mountain is a 3A school when competing together, the Riverside High Speech Team won the Thershoni Invitational.*

Nerves were on high for the Riverside Speech Team.  The team traveled to Thermopolis for the first meet of the year for the Thershoni Invitational. The team did very well. 16 total schools were competing. In the Novice Drama event, Shelena Coronado placed 2nd and Liberty Miller 5th out of 13 competitors.  In Novice Humor, Shelena Coronado placed 2nd and Liberty Miller placed 4th in a field of 19 competitors.  In the Varsity Drama event, Nicole Riley placed 6th out of 18 other students.

With these 5 breaks into the final round, The Riverside High School Speech Team placed 2nd out of 6 schools in overall team sweepstakes points missing the top spot by only 1 point to a combined Lovell / Rocky Mountain team.

On December 17th and 18th, the speech team will compete in the Cody Classic Invitational.  Good luck.