Spoofhounds successful at Raytown High School
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Maryville High School Speech and Debate team members pose with their awards from the Raytown High School Open Tournament. Pictured are, from left: senior Hannah Townsend, senior Logan Nelson, and junior Makaylah Jones.
Makaylah Jones is reaching unstoppable status as the speech and debate season inches closer to an end.
The junior competitor has notched several tournament championships to her name this season, and this weekend, she added another to her list of accolades.
Jones broke to the Super Session final round of Student Congress, coming away with a first-place finish. She said it was great to win the event.
“With national qualifiers coming up, it’s awesome to have consistent success in Congress,” Jones said. “It’s great to be known in the event as well.
“Congress is such a political event, so when you do well, people start doing what you do and try to stay on your good side. It can be a hindrance, though, because presiding officers know who you are and can hurt your overall score.”
Her teammate, Logan Nelson, knows what that’s like. Nelson also broke to the Super Session this weekend, earning sixth place to gain his first award of the season in Congress.
“The event is run by your competitors, so sometimes whether you do well or not is highly dependent on them,” Nelson said. “In the first part of the Super Session, I only gave one speech, and in the second, I couldn’t give any.
“It was surprising to place at all since I just gave the one speech. Because of the way the Super Session is put together, you almost have to give multiple speeches in order to be even considered for a placing spot.”
While Nelson and Jones broke to the final in Student Congress, senior Hannah Townsend found herself in the final round of an event she only does occasionally. Townsend managed a fourth-place finish in Humorous Interpretation, performing a piece from a children’s book.
“The piece is called Duck for President, and it’s about a duck that runs for president,” Townsend said. “I’ve only done the event once before this season, and I managed to get sixth place.”
Coach Trudy Kinman said she was happy with the outcome.
“I’m very pleased with how Congress turned out, because there were 75 competitors and we managed to have two of the finalists from that large field,” Kinman said. “There wasn’t success across the broader spectrum, but these are results that any coach can be proud of.”
The “regular” season for the Maryville High School Speech and Debate Team wraps up this coming weekend at Staley High School. Maryville travels to its conference tournament next week before heading to State and National qualifying tournaments in March.