Nationals

P-Russ's recap:

SUBJECT: Speech & Debate Nats recap: an incredible week! (6/24/24)

Greetings, all,

The Gavelin' Eagles delegation made it home safe and sound Saturday night from Iowa, where we spent the week competing in and experiencing the National Speech & Debate Tournament. As my earlier emails have made clear, it was a very successful week, but I wanted to send along a more detailed recap now that the dust has had some time to settle.

Coach Kaskalla and I brought the following students:

• Marcus Nahalea – qualifying as one of New Mexico's four House Congressional debaters, and later competing in Extemporaneous Debate

• Natashia Anderson – qualifying as one of New Mexico's two competitors in Program Oral Interpretation, and later competing in Original Spoken Word Poetry

• Haylei Redhouse – qualifying as a member of one of New Mexico's two World Schools Debate teams, and later competing in Original Spoken Word Poetry and Impromptu

• Aspyn Kaskalla – invited due to her role on the Student Leadership Council, and competing in Storytelling

All four of these Gavelin' Eagles did us proud, and we all learned so much and were consistently inspired just from being immersed in so much greatness and passion. However, there are a couple of special recognitions worth mentioning.

As you are likely already aware, Natashia Anderson became the first student in Gavelin' Eagles history (as well as in the history of my coaching career!) to break past preliminary competition at Nats. Her performance in Original Spoken Word Poetry was truly exceptional, landing her somewhere in the top 64 in the nation in this event. In her main event, Program Oral Interpretation, she also did commendably. Though she did not break past prelims, her rankings were excellent, and she may well have palced in the top 100 in the nation overall (only the top 60 broke). Those results have yet to be made available publicly, but I will follow up with them once they are.

Haylei Redhouse also deserves special commendation: her World Schools Debate team were themselves a single win away from breaking past preliminary rounds! Even more impressively, one of the teams they defeated wound up proceeding not just past prelims but all the way to semifinals. That's right: Haylei's team defeated one of the top four teams in the nation! As far as I'm concerned, that makes Haylei Redhouse the real national champion! Who's with me!?!?

Anyway, we had a delightful time experiencing this amazing event (and Des Moines, which is a surprisingly cool town!). Thanks so much to everyone back at NPS – administrators, the Board, and folks in athletics, the business office, facilities, and security – for making it possible. A special big thanks to Jennifer Kaskalla, without whose support all week long I probably would've lost my mind!

Enjoy the rest of your summer!

Best,

Russell

P-Russ's earlier recaps:

SUBJECT: NA breaks to elimination rounds! Top 64 in the nation! (6/19/24)

Good evening, all,

We are so excited to share some incredible news from the National Speech and Debate Tournament out here in Iowa.

Just a couple hours ago, we found out that our own Natashia Anderson has broken past preliminary rounds in the event of Original Spoken Word Poetry! She will begin competing in elimination rounds tomorrow morning, vying against some incredibly stiff competition for a chance at becoming a national champion!!!

Even if she goes no further, this is already an insane achievement. Tash has taken her place among the top 64 in the nation in this event, and she is one of just a handful of students from all of New Mexico to break at this year's tournament. For context, this is 64 out of the 5000+ competitors who are competing at Nats and over 200 who began in this event.

For my part, in six years of coaching, while I have coached students to Nationals every year, this is the very first time one of those students has ever made it past prelims. So exciting!

Please send your good vibes our way tomorrow! I will keep you all updated. If you're curious to see a bit of the action, final rounds for some events start tomorrow, and all of them are livestreamed. You can view them at this link. Tash's event won't hit finals until Friday, however, so you'll have to wait an extra day to see that one. Fingers crossed Tash will be there!

Best,

Russell

SUBJECT: RE: NA breaks to elimination rounds! Top 64 in the nation! (6/20/24)

Good morning, all,

Quick update: Natashia was eliminated after octofinals. I was able to observe her final round, though, and can assure you that she did us all proud and that she 100% deserved to be there. We are so happy with how this week has gone and are already looking forward to next season!

Best,

Russell

SUBJECT: Wish the Gavelin' Eagles good luck at Nats in Iowa! (6/17/24)

Good morning, all,

Sorry to bother you all over what I hope is a restful and fun summer, but I wanted to remind everyone that Coach Kaskalla and I are at the National Speech and Debate Tournament in Des Moines, Iowa, all week with four incredible members of our Speech & Debate Team. Please join me in wishing Marcus Nahalea, Natashia Anderson, Haylei Redhouse, and Aspyn Kaskalla the best of luck as they go up against the most qualified and competent public speakers in all the land!

If you feel like emailing any or all of these kids specifically and sending them a bit of inspiration, I strongly encourage you to do so.

Best,

Russell