Newcastle’s speech team talks its way into a trophy

Sonja Karp 
NLJ Reporter
 
A few weeks off from competition over the holidays may have been just what the doctor ordered for the young and relatively inexperienced Newcastle Dogie Speech Team, because in their first weekend out in the new year head coach Jim Stith saw vast improvement across the board as his squad competed in Buffalo.
“We’ve been to a few tournaments this season, and we saw some improvement from one to the next,” Stith began. “We’ve had maybe one or two students break out of the preliminary rounds, but last weekend half the kids we took broke into the out rounds so that was really great!”
With more kids breaking out of preliminaries and scoring in the tournament, the Dogies were able to nab their first Sweepstakes, bringing home the third place trophy for the 3A division. 
The placing was made more impressive given the size of the tournament. According to Stith, there were 15 to 16 schools ranging from 2A to 4A who were competing. However, the majority of those fell in the 3A category.
Stith attributed the greater success of his students to the work they put in over the
past few weeks away from competition.
“Part of it is that some of the kids simply found their niche,” he nodded. “Their success was validating, however, because it showed that the work those kids were putting in was paying off, and I think it served as a wake-up call for those who haven’t.”
Those breaking into out rounds included Markie Whitney, Shelby Davis and Derrick Rasmussen, who made it to Super Congress (Congress Finals). Whitney and Davis also advanced to quarterfinals in Public Forum, Rasmussen broke into quarterfinals in Lincoln/Douglas (LD), Emma Haugen pushed through to the semifinals in Poetry, Cadence Larson forged her way all the way to Finals in Drama, and finally the Duet team of Austyn Vaughn and John Barker also advanced to the Finals round.
Of those who broke, Whitney placed fifth, Larson also placed fifth while Vaughn and Barker finished in third place in their event. 
Most events allow competitors to choose a topic that they can practice and refine throughout the season. That is not the case, however with debate. For example, in L/D the topic of debate changes every two months and as such, those students were working with a new subject last weekend. 
Each student must prepare an affirmative and a negative argument for the topic which is currently “The U.S. government should not supply military aid to authoritarian regimes.” Fifteen minutes prior to their round, students are informed which side they will be arguing and are given that time to finalize their preparation. 
“Those first couple of rounds of L/D when we start a new topic can be a little rough,” Stith explained. “So to have our debaters go 3-1 or 2-2 at the tournament against some pretty good competition is great.”
Larson also put forth an impressive effort, especially considering she is only a freshman.
“In one of Cadence’s rounds, she placed first which is really surprising given her age and experience,” Stith exclaimed. “Then she got a third place, but her comment sheet said that the choice between the top three was really tough and that she had a really strong voice.”
The success the team enjoyed has them looking forward to their upcoming meet in Rapid City on January 18th and 19th. 
The Dogies will be hosting their annual tournament on February 8th and 9th and are looking for judges. Those interested in an entertaining day of judging high school speech competition should call NHS at 746-2713 and ask for Jim or Lexie Stith.