From Jan. 31 to Feb. 1, LOHS’ Speech and Debate team competed in the annual Logan Will Ultimate Challenge in Grants Pass.

The Speech and Debate team has grown to new heights this season, according to advisor and coach Robyn Rose. “Typically,” she said, “when we have a lot of seniors, we don’t get as many new students joining, but this year we also have one of our largest group of new students.”

Among the 16 high schools in attendance, Lake Oswego’s students performed impressively. On Friday night, senior Chris Sun placed sixth in After Dinner Speeches. On Saturday, in Dramatic Interpretation, junior Ellie Tanimura scored first and senior Elliott Lloyd scored sixth. The only Prose speaker from Lake Oswego, Lloyd went on to score third. In Dual Interpretation, or “Duo,” Sun, along with senior Dan Michtom, placed ninth. In Extemporaneous Speech, senior Selena Zhang took first place. Sophomore Anushka Naiknaware placed fourth in Informative Speech and second in Lincoln-Douglas Debate. Among Parliamentary Debate pairs, sophomores Alex Aghdaei and David Morgan took second.

This is Morgan’s second year on the team. “We have three great coaches,” he said. “So we’ve got a lot of support.”

Junior Scarlett Scott-Buck scored highly in Poetry, as did senior Lena Wehn in Oral Interpretation. Seniors Michael Murray and Doris Yang added to their fourth debate season accolades by taking second place in Public Forum debate. Junior Clark Jones, along with Naiknaware, advanced to semifinals in Radio speech.

“I love the Grants Pass Tournament,” Rose testified. “It’s the only southern Oregon tournament we attend, and the students love it. The drive is long, and arriving back at three o’clock a.m. isn’t the most fun, but it’s worth it when the kids get such a great competition experience.”