Covites help CTC earn state runner-up honors in speech tournament

Special to Leader-Press 

For the second consecutive year, the Central Texas College (CTC) Speech and Debate Team finished as the second best community college speech team in the state. CTC was one of 27 community college teams participating in the 38th annual Texas State Speech and Debate Championships held recently at Rice University in Houston. CTC finished second by four points to Tyler Junior College.
CTC team members earned three individual state championship trophies. 
Catt Victory, a sophomore from Copperas Cove, won state champion honors in Persuasive Speaking and was the runner-up in Duo Acting with partner Kayla Robertson-Jones. 
Classmate Devyn Carter from Copperas Cove was declared the tournament champion speaker in Individual Debate, and Bri Izquierdo, freshman from Copperas Cove, won first place in Communication Analysis.
In Team Debate, the duo of Robert Borntrager and Elena Romero lost a two-to-one decision to Tyler Junior College to finish as state runner-up. Freshman Zack Wahlgren was third in Speech to Entertain; Kat Schultze, freshman, placed third in Informative Speaking; and Robertson-Jones finished third in Poetry. 
In total, the CTC team brought won more than 20 awards during the state championship tournament. The team is now preparing for the regional championships in Oklahoma City, Okla. on March 2.