Cave Classic
La Cueva HS, Albuquerque, NM -- Fri 1/17 & Sat 1/18, 2025
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P-Russ's recap:
SUBJECT: Breaking records at the Cave Classic! π¦ ππ§Έ
Greetings, all,
This weekend, we brought a whopping THIRTY Gavelin' Eagles to the Cave Classic Speech & Debate Tournament at La Cueva High School in Albuquerque. This incredible number β representing just over ten percent of the entire NPS student body β set a team record for our most competitors at a single competition EVER!
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They were each remarkable in their own ways, but among the group there are quite a few deserving of special commendation. Please join me in congratulating:
Aspyn Kaskalla, who became the first student in team history to place FIRST in two separate events at the same tournament β and two main events at that! Aspyn broke to finals and placed FIRST overall in Program Oral Interpretation (earning first from every judge in the final round), and she also placed FIRST in International Extemporaneous Speaking (taking first in every round of that event all tournament long)!!!
Natashia Anderson, who broke to finals in Program Oral Interpretation and took 2nd overall in that event! Stay tuned: Tash has another one coming!
Kiona Manson, who, on a team with Tash, broke to finals in Competitive Impromptu Duo Nightmare Interpretation (CIDNI) and placed 2nd overall in that event! Moreover, Kio and Tash placed 1st in every round of preliminary competition! (CIDNI is a very unusual and quite silly event that, as you will see, our team excels in.)
Kira Begay, who placed 3rd in International Extemporaneous Speaking and was named that event's Top Novice Speaker β her first time ever trying it! Kira's got another one coming too!
Addyson Salazar, who placed 3rd in Storytelling! And Addy's got another one coming too!
Josiah Dineyazhe, who, on a team with Addy, broke to finals in CIDNI and placed 4th overall in that event!
Carla Claunch, who broke to finals and placed 5th overall in Program Oral Interpretation, and was also that event's Top Novice Speaker β in her speech and debate debut no less!
Daykiin Draper, who broke to finals and placed 5th overall in Humorous Interpretation! Also, the team of Day-Day and Kira broke to finals and placed 7th in CIDNI!
Elise Walker, who broke to finals and placed 5th overall in Impromptu and was that event's Top Novice Speaker!
Kaleb Jones, who broke to finals and placed 6th overall in Impromptu!
Ayden Redhouse, who placed 7th overall in United States Extemporaneous Speaking, just narrowly missing finals!
There are likely a few more top tens to celebrate, but I don't have access to full results just yet. I'll follow up with another quick email when I get that info. However, there is one more pair I'd like to celebrate:
The team of Charmista Barela and Evan Speck, who were the only novice competitors in Policy Debate at the whole tournament! As a result, their division was collapsed with Varsity Policy, and they had to hold their own against some seriously scary debaters β which they did admirably!Β
All this success has had a couple other significant and exciting consequences as well:
Aspyn Kaskalla is now ranked 2nd in the entire state!
The Gavelin' Eagles are now ranked 3rd in the entire state! We're in the top 3!!!
These rankings are dynamic, so they may not hold, but for the time being, this is certainly worth celebrating!
Huge thanks to Coaches Kaskalla and Egge for both making it down to support our team, as well as to all the parents and community members who came out to judge for us. And a big thanks also to Louise Atene who got us safely there and back β despite some not-insignificant technical difficulties on the ride home last night!
We've got one more invitational in two weeks, and then it's on to the postseason!
Best,
Russell
Addendum:
As promised, here are a few more exciting results from the Cave Classic!
Daykiin Draper actually placed 4th in Humorous Interpretation, not 5th!
Kaleb Jones placed 4th in Storytelling!
Sierra Nakai placed 6th in Dramatic Interpretation!
Danica Becenti placed 7th in Dramatic Interpretation!
Lola Williams placed 9th in Humorous Interpretation!
Rodericka Hale-Toledo placed 10th in Humorous Interpretation!
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