Middle Row: Coach Kim Heath, Jennifer Palacio, Ailey Williams, Danica Cline, Reese King, Alondra Alvarez, Adeline Dougherty, Aliyah Fryberger, Milena Carbajal
Front Row: Raegan Boaldin, Dixie Gallant, Jenna Higgins, Hannah Hopkins, Xanna Smith
From Great Bend High School debate coach Kim Heath...
November has been a busy month for members of the GBHS Debate Team. Squad members traveled to four tournaments this month and continued to rack up wins and medals while gaining valuable experience in debate.
Sedgwick and Nickerson hosted separate tournaments on Nov. 5. GBHS sent teams to each tournament and placed 4th out of 17 schools at Sedgwick and 2nd out of 8 schools at Nickerson. Individual medalists included Darcy Feist and Chrisangel Adame-1st Place in JV; Reese King and Lea Nokes-2nd Place in JV; Maddix Pokorski and Ellie Damm-7th place in Varsity; Xanna Smith and Adeline Dougherty-8th Place in Varsity; Rebeca Rodriguez and Analeah Ochs-8th Place in JV. Also competing for the Panthers were Rhys Froetschner and Quinton Heath; Theo Hopkinson-Smith and Jenna Higgins; and Logan Urban and Keaton Kruckenberg.
Due to the GBHS Fall Play, most of the debate team took a weekend off from competition. However, a small contingent of novice debaters traveled to Manhattan for the Roger Brannon Invitational on Nov. 12. Coach Brannon is a legend in the Kansas debate world and was Coach Kim Heath’s cooperating teacher during her student teaching in the early ’90s.
“It was really fun visiting with Mr. Brannon,” said Coach Heath. “It was also nice to see that the tournament had been named after him. He was a great coach and mentor for so many of us during his long tenure at Manhattan High.”
Competing at the Manhattan tournament were Jay Creamer and Theo Hopkinson-Smith 2 wins and 3 losses; Kaylee Haag and Jennifer Palacio 2 wins and 3 losses; and Hannah Hopkins and Danica Cline 3 wins and 2 losses.
Finally, at the Buhler debate tournament on Nov. 19 the squad came back together and successfully secured the 1st place Sweepstakes trophy from Buhler High School. They beat out ten other teams including squads from Newton, Salina, McPherson and Hutchinson.
In the novice division, the GBHS Debate Team swept the first three places. Damm and Hopkins brought home the gold medals. This pair of freshmen were undefeated and secured perfect speaker points. Froetschner and Heath also won all of their rounds and placed 2nd. Third place was won by Ailey Williams and Cline with a record of three wins and one loss. Kruckenberg and Urban placed 6th, and Higgins and Palacio finished 8th.
In the open division, two teams came away with only one loss. Smith and King placed 5th; while Henrikson and Pokorski were 7th. The teams of Dougherty and Fryberger—as well as the team of Adame, Alvarez and Carbajal—finished with a record of two wins and two losses.
The Panthers will take Thanksgiving weekend off and will return to the road for a tournament at Chaparral High School on Saturday, Dec. 3.