Breaking News: Debate State Championship Results

Shawnee Mission East debate made it to the quarterfinals of the 6A 2 Speaker State Championship on Saturday, Jan. 13, at Olathe North High School.

Out of the 62 teams in the tournament, East had four teams competing, with two debaters on each team.  All East teams made it past the six preliminary rounds and competed in the first elimination round of the bracket with the top 32 teams in the championship. 

Two of the four teams made it past the first round of elimination, but juniors Lucy Pace and Sophie Leonard went the farthest out of all the East teams. They made it to the quarterfinals where they lost to Blue Valley Brett Jordan and Nikoo Tahmasebi, finishing the tournament with a final record of six wins and three losses.  

“I feel like Lucy and I have grown a lot as a partnership, also the debates that we won, we won far more thoroughly and our debating has improved so much,” Leonard said. “So I think I learned to differentiate the losses from the growth that is happening throughout the tournament and that I can’t control judges' choices.”

Juniors Lucy Pace and Sophie Leonard

• Record  6-3
• Quarterfinalist (top 8)

Sophomores Luciana Mendy and Ishaan Home

• Record 5-3 
• Octofinalists (top 16)

Senior Maddie Doyle and Sophomore Alex Benditt

• Record 4-3
• Double Octofinalists (top 32)

Sophomores Brynn Bettenhausen and Eliza King

• Record 3-4
• Double Octofinalists (top 32)