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Speech Team Strives Toward Success
Photo Credit: Alicia Shilling
SAY WHAT? The Grey Ghosts wait for Mr. Menke to start their usual Monday meeting. The team met every Monday following a competition and discussed what they did right, and things they needed to improve upon and determined tactics for the upcoming meets
January 26, 2012 • Chandini Dahlberg
Filed under Activities, News, Top Stories
“This was their worst competition, we can’t go any lower,” said Forensics Coach Ted Menke.
Two successive weekends saw the Grey Ghosts swing from the bottom to the top in competition. The Ghosts had a disappointing fourth place finish at Northwest but followed up with an overwhelming victory at Newcastle the following weekend.
Northwest College
The Greybull High School speech team went to the NWC tournament with expectations of putting another win under their belts the weekend of Jan. 6 and 7. However, they weren’t as triumphant as anticipated.
Coach Menke said, “I expected at least three entries to go to Semi Finals.”
This was not the case. Not a single entry that weekend that made it that far.
According to Mr. Menke, contributing factors to the loss were that team members weren’t as focused as they should have been and some pieces weren’t memorized. Also, competition was unusually tough at this meet because many Montana schools, who were nearing the end of their season, were in attendance.
The weekend gave the Grey Ghosts some things to work on.
“We should aspire upward and practice, practice, practice,” said Coach Menke.
Coach Menke also warned team members “not to be over-confident. To do well one must practice, prepare and not wait until the last minute.”
Newcastle
The following weekend, the team found themselves heading to Newcastle, bright and early at 5:30 a.m. Despite grumblings about waking up before the sun, the early start proved to be of dire importance to the team.
At Ranchester, the bus broke down at the Buckhorn Grocery store.
The Grey Ghosts were stranded at the convenience store for over an hour while repairs were made. They ended up breaking down two more times, before finally reaching their destination.
Arriving more than two hours late to the meet, members were concerned that the rocky start would prevent them from competing to their full potential.
However, the bus breaking down proved to be a good luck charm for the GHS speech team.
Ezra Hanson (SO) and Matt Dillon (SR) made it to semifinals in Drama. Chandini Dahlberg (SR) placed fifth in Poetry. Josh Hopkin (JR) was ranked third in Congressional Debate and Dillon and Dahlberg were first overall in duet. The team placed first in 1A/2A schools.
Coach Menke said, “Ones that did better practiced a lot. Their confidence is growing.”
Despite the terrible start the speech team had on Friday morning, they were able to bounce back and prove that nothing could stop them from accomplishing their goals.
Coach Menke said, “We decided to join the dance – our experienced students have stepped into leadership roles and are trying to bring young competitors along.”
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