Sophie Racy and Connor Brown placed third in the nation in policy debate and Free State was named a top-20 school nationwide at the National Speech and Debate Tournament, closing out coach Kelly Thompson’s teaching career.
Free State High School has won its fifth straight KSHSAA 6A state speech championship, and two students won three individual championships. Lawrence High School came in fifth overall.
Free State High School’s forensics team dominated the speech and debate national qualifier, winning all four sweepstakes awards and seeing nine students punch their tickets to the national tournament. Lawrence High qualified seven students for nationals.
Free State High School junior Anwen Williams has reached a prestigious milestone after scoring in more than 375 rounds of speech and debate competition so far.
Just before Thomas Lushington was scheduled to depart for the National Speech and Debate Association tournament, a local coach offered him some feedback on his argument, igniting a frenzy of revision. The changes paid off.
Mac Moore/KSHSAA Covered
Free State High School took home its fourth-straight state forensics title over the weekend, and Lawrence High School finished in fourth place. Both schools sent multiple entries to the finals.
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In a weekend featuring more than a dozen high school debaters from Lawrence, Free State took home second place in the 4-speaker division and sent a team to the semifinals in the 2-speaker division of the state tournament. Meanwhile, two Lawrence High seniors have earned the school’s first bid to the national Tournament of Champions.
Three Kansas public high schools won all four national policy debate championships this year, an unprecedented accomplishment in an arena dominated by private schools.
Students from Free State High School, Lawrence High School and Bishop Seabury Academy all have state champions to celebrate following a successful weekend.
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Free State High School seniors Serena Rupp and John Marshall won the final round of the Tournament of Champions late Monday on a 2-1 decision, becoming national champions.
