The MVHS Speech and Debate Team have qualified a record 13 students to the Ohio Speech and Debate Association’s State Finals held in Sylvania on March 2-3. “This is an exciting year for us”, said coach Jeff Gottke, “I knew more students would qualify than usual, but 13 is really an accomplishment. That’s more than half of our entire team.” As a team, the Yellow Jackets finished fourth overall.
Pre-qualifying for the tournament were seniors Ethan Buehrer and Conrad Stein in Public Forum Debate. They were able to pre-qualify by finishing in the top 10 at four separate tournaments. “We are excited to be going back to the State Finals and hope to make it really far into the tournament. We are also glad that we didn’t have the pressure of trying to qualify through the District Tournament.” Said Buehrer.
The rest of the students earned their spots at the Columbus District Finals in Gahanna, where they had to compete in front of multiple judge panels against teams from all over the Columbus area. First-time qualifier junior Zach Broeren said, “the tournament was really nerve-wracking, and I am really excited I get to represent MVHS at the State Finals”. Broeren and his partner, Charlie Mayville, finished undefeated on the day, and first overall. The other qualifiers were: seniors Max Chandler and Gannon Reddy, juniors Curtis Erlandson, Mehmet-Ali Schubel, Ashley Parsons, Kylie Goudy and Cassidy Daniels, sophomore Caitlyn Kennedy and freshmen Gannon Reilly and Elizabeth Clarkson.