By Kenna McMurray
MVHS Forensics Student
After a long, hard weekend at Foothill High School, Moapa Valley Forensics Team emerged triumphant once again at a meet held on October 22-23.
On Friday, competitors began competition in individual events. The local team was missing some key team members due to Homecoming activities, but still managed to show that MVHS Debate is a force to be reckoned with.
John Rockenbach placed sixth in Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking and then for the third straight tournament in a row, he took first in Expository Speaking (Expos) with his speech about the game of chess. Also in expos were Jacob Allum and Kenna McMurray. Both competitors earned enough points to compete in the finals round for their event, however, an error was made in the tabulation of points that was only discovered after the final round had already taken place. Although disappointed they were not given a chance to compete for the title, Allum and McMurray received a public apology from the event staff and are eagerly awaiting another chance at the next tournament.
In Varsity Dramatic Interpretation, Alyssa Zerkle took sixth place with her script, “A Child Called It.” Although interpretation events use scripts extracted from a larger piece of published literature, it is up to each competitor to cut their chosen piece to fit in the time limit given. In the novice division, Dakota Polk placed again in Dramatic Interpretation with her performance of, “Tiger in a Cage.”
On Saturday, the debaters returned to Foothill to compete. Kenna McMurray was the only one to place on this day, taking first place overall in Junior Varsity Lincoln-Douglas Debate.
After all the points were added up, Moapa Valley took first place overall in the Sweepstakes competition, meaning that they accumulated the most amount of points out of all the small schools present at the tournament.
If you are interested to be involved in MVHS Forensics, judges are always needed at these competitions. No background or experience is required to judge. For more information call Coach Jared Bushman at 397-2611, ext. 3321.
