Craig Daily Press

Craig — Eric Hansen, Moffat County High School speech and debate coach, said he knew his team had improved this year.

But he wasn’t anticipating what he saw Saturday and Sunday.

The team placed second out of 15 teams at the Palisade High School invitational. They barely missed placing first, Hansen said.

In past years, team members have focused on garnering wins in their separate events. But this year, they’re pulling together as a team, collecting enough individual awards to qualify for whole-team awards, Hansen said.

For the fourth-year coach, it’s an unexpected development.

“I didn’t expect it to go this well,” he said. “We’ve made little steps (but) this year it seems like we’ve jumped over the pond.”

The team has been growing, Hansen said, bringing in new and members returning old ones. Where the team once consisted mostly of first-year competitors, but it now maintains a core of experienced juniors who are teaching the ropes to newcomers.

Courtney Teeter is one such student.

As a third-year MCHS speech team member, Teeter has seen the team improve from when she joined as a freshman.

“It’s been getting better each year,” she said. “We’ve had really good freshmen and new kids. We’ve had a lot of new talent coming in.”

Sophomore Curtis Lorio, a first-year speech and debate team member, agreed.

“We’re putting our best foot forward, and we’re really dominating,” he said.

Since Hansen’s first year, team numbers have increased.

“Every year, we’ve had more and more kids,” he said.

Their field of competition has grown this year to include schools outside of the Western Slope, including those in Wyoming and Utah.

And to larger schools, “schools that used to mock us,” Moffat County is becoming serious competition, Hansen said.

Hansen attributes the team’s performance in part to the team’s exposure to a wider field of competition.

When he started coaching Moffat County four years ago, Hansen focused on performing well against local teams. From there, he gradually worked outward to include Delta, Montrose and Grand Junction schools.

“We’re trying to be more competitive with bigger teams at bigger tournaments,” he said.

The team’s next competition at Grand Junction Central is the last event before state and national qualifying events and the team’s last opportunity to gauge itself against a team in its district.

Hansen’s goal: For his speech and debate team to take first place as a team in Grand Junction.

Considering how close they were to reaching first at Palisade, it’s a goal that’s within reach, Hansen said.

“They’re peaking at the right time,” he said. “They’re really improving (and) placing better and better.”