Manhattan High School’s Debate program recently celebrated a period of unprecedented competitive success while simultaneously taking on the meaningful task of hosting its annual home tournament. The team’s prowess on the state circuit is clear. Debate coach William Soper reported that recently, MHS teams won all three divisions — Debate Coaches Invitational, Open and Novice — a feat that “really speaks to the depth of the team.”
In DCI, the team of Savannah Harvey and Emron Streetman defeated Lawrence Free State’s top team in the finals, while in Open, seniors Ayla Price and her partner Wyatt Adams had a “dominant performance,” Soper said, going undefeated in the past four tournaments.
The success, Soper concluded, has lead to a new peak within the debate team. “Manhattan debate is experiencing more success than ever,” Soper said.
This competitive high note was paralleled by the tremendous logistical effort required to run the home tournament. Hosting is crucial for the program, as KSHSAA requires each team to host a tournament to attend others, and Price explained the importance of this.
“It gives us a chance to give back to our debate community,” Price said.
Running the event required intense, complex coordination from dozens of MHS students. Senior Ryn Barnes managed the critical Judges Table, which involved checking in judges and entering new ones into the system
“We used walkie talkies to communicate with our tournament directors… as well as our Tabroom Team,” Barnes said.
Students handled roles ranging from recruiting judges and keeping time in rounds to running the electronic tabulation. Price, who worked in the Tabroom, cited the “most challenging” part as “definitely wrangling the judges… making sure their ballots were filled in correctly, they didn’t leave when we needed them, and that they were here on time.”
Despite the pressure, the team culture remained strong. Barnes reported that a judge grievance arose over a “Maverick” competitor (debating alone), which MHS chose to allow to win rounds if merited.
“The issue was handled extremely well, and the Maverick ended up placing fifth,” Barnes said.
The rewards of the effort were clearly felt by the students. “[My favorite part was] getting to spend so much time with the team, especially since I’m graduating and this will be the last home tournament I host.”
The camaraderie was evident even among the Tabroom team. “The funniest thing that happened is a group of about 10 of us got a Buzzfeed quiz party going in round,” Price said.
They even took on some more fun roles within the tournament. “Running a concession stand for the debaters and a buffet for the judges. I got to keep a whole lasagna,” senior Rowan Janette-Bear said.
Price summarized the satisfaction of the day, stating the most fun is “always seeing the tournament come together. We all work together and it creates a great team culture, but also seeing all of the work we’ve done.”
