Manhattan High’s debate team has just returned from an intense weekend of taking on two tournaments Friday and Saturday. The team sported high-ranking debate partnerships, and once again left with a novice winning streak from juniors Tanya Singh and Mobofho Ndou.

Singh and Ndou have continued to sweep the competition, taking first place in the Novice Division by going 5-0 undefeated in last weekend’s Seaman tournament, along with fellow novices Megan Long and Sam Delong, freshman. Saturday, Singh and Ndou attended their first open division tournament at Silver Lake, going 3-2 and setting an overall winning record for the pair.

Via email, following the meet, Singh expressed both a sense of pride and surprise in the two-week winning streak that has put the debate pair on the top of the seasons’ novice “to watch” list.

“I’m not going to lie, I felt really bad when I found out we lost two rounds [on Saturday] because I’m a perfectionist,” Singh said. “Although I also have to understand I’m only a novice, and something like this is great. It feels really good to have a winning streak like this, but I can’t wait for [Ndou] and I to improve as the season goes on.”

Along with Singh and Ndou’s exceptional scores, the advanced debate team took Friday to compete at Blue Valley North. Juniors Megan Keenan and Allison Payne took a winning record going 3-2. As teams needs 2 wins to qualify for state, this outs KEnnan and Payne in a good position for this point in the season.

“It was nice to compete with new people,” Payne said. “We usually only compete within Topeka so it was interesting to see and compete with some different teams.”

Juniors Trinity Brockman and Will Bannister were also in attendance. The pair went undefeated on Friday, but ended 3-2 on Saturday, placing them two spots away from breaking into octofinals — the round just before quarterfinals containing 16 remaining participants.

“Since we had the opportunity to go to the Kansas City area, we were able to go up against teams we are going to see at state,” Brockman said. “As a team, we were able to hit new arguments and be able to prepare for them. Also, since it was a larger tournament, it pushed us more to do well.”

The debate team will bring the argument home for their next tournament, hosting right here at Manhattan High next Saturday. The team is still in search of teachers to fill the position of judges, and asks, if interested, to contact any team member or coach Mac Phrommany.