Young squad stuns circuit

Despite the inexperience of this year’s debate squad and the fact that it was deemed a “rebuilding year,” the squad gave everyone a shock with their impressive success. Squad members captured first at regionals, third at state, and qualified two to nationals.

“For a young squad, I think we were successful at filling the void (we only had one senior) and bringing the novices and second year kids up to varsity level,” commented Naylor.

With such a young squad, some of the members were worried about how they would compete, like sophomore Christina Carter, who is a second-year debater. She wasn’t too optimistic about how her season would progress.

“I thought I would do terrible. I was afraid I would be the worst on the squad. However, compared to last year, I’m a better speaker, and my argumentation skills increased greatly. I’m also more confident,” explained Carter.

Regionals were held at Topeka West High School. Those competing at regionals included senior Shelly McClelland, junior Alex Olyer, and sophomores Nick Miller and Christina Carter.

Together, they made up the four-speaker team who captured first, with Oyler and Miller on the negative side and McClelland and Carter on the affirmative side.

Silver Lake also qualified two teams for state in two-speaker. They were sophomores Donnie Hanson and Courtney Brokaw, and the second group included junior Colin Wilstead and sophomore Ashley Hanson.

After an amazing show at regionals, the debate squad went on to Washburn Rural High School to take third at state. The same squad members who attended regionals traveled to state along with sophomore Emy Ladner and freshman Marshall Wetta.

Now that regionals and state are over, Oyler and Miller must prepare for nationals, which will be held in Milwaukee, Wis. in May. Naylor believes that they can always improve their record. Miller said he is delighted to be preparing for tough competition.

Sub Navigation

Top