By John Rockenbach
The MVHS Speech and Debate team has won the State Championship five years in row. This year, the team will try to make history by becoming the first Nevada forensics team to win six consecutive state championships.
The defense began last weekend September 24-25 with a tournament held at Green Valley High School. Pirates performed dominantly on both days of competition.
On Friday, the individual speaking events were held. Jacob Allum earned fourth place in Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking, while Calvin McMurray took second in Foreign Extemporaneous Speaking. Expository Speaking was a strong event for the team, with Kenna McMurray getting second and John Rockenbach taking first. Alyssa Zerkle took third in Dramatic Interpretation and Freshman Dakota Polk was fourth in Novice Dramatic Interpretation.
On Saturday, the Pirates competed in debate events. The team was very strong in Lincoln-Douglas Debate (LD), with finalists in every level of competition. Dakota Polk made it to quarterfinals in Novice LD. Kenna McMurray got to the semifinal round in Junior Varsity LD. In the Varsity LD final, Calvin McMurray beat out his opponent from host school, Green Valley to win the round and take first place in the event.
As a team, MVHS significantly outmatched other opponents and won the Small Schools Sweepstakes by a large margin.
“The Quest for Six” will resume in two weeks when the pirates compete at Dixie High in St. George.
