MELISSA, Texas (Pine Tree Debate) — Pine Tree High School Speech and Debate team traveled to Melissa, Saturday, October 14, to compete in a highly competitive UIL speech & debate tournament.. Thirty-one schools and over 300 students attended the tournament from all across the state of Texas. Pine Tree competed at the tournament with 13 of their students. For many of the Pine Tree student team, it was their first speech and debate tournament.
As a result, Pine Tree Speech & Debate discovered treasure. Senior Travis Johnson and Junior Aiden McQueary went undefeated (4-0) in CX debate. They captured gold and were the only CX debate team to go undefeated at the tournament. Johnson also found gold in extemporaneous speaking while McQueary finished sixth.
First year extemper, Junior Ryan Alonso, finished 4th in novice extemp. Junior Alayna Blalack finished with a 3-1 record in her first Lincoln Douglas debate match, finishing 9th out of 33 student competitors. First year CX debaters Alonso and freshman Liv Brannon finished with an impressive 2-2 record in Novice CX Debate. Also finishing in the top tier of Novice extemporaneous speakers were Brannon and sophomore Maxwell Crochet.
The team is coached by Alyx Dickson. They will compete next at the All-Saints competition in Tyler on Saturday, October 21, 2023.