Milbank Debate Succeeds at State Tournament

Milbank High School Debate and Speech team captured 3rd place in the Class A State Contest held at Watertown High School March 5-6th. Lennox and Vermillion were 1st and 2nd respectively.

Three MHS students broke through the preliminary rounds of individual speech events to the final round. Natasha Hartman captured second place in Original Oratory. Jesse Nelson finished second in US Extemp while Mitch Wagner finished in third place. Josh Grabow and John Ward participated in International Extemp and Amanda Lambrechts was in Original Oratory.

Both of MHS policy teams broke to the quarter final round, but both teams were eliminated in that round. Amanda Lambrechts and Natasha Hartman drew eventual champions from Vermillion as their opponent. "The Vermillioin team has only lost one round to a team from South Dakota all year and won the state championship the past two years, but Amanda and Natasha held their ground with them and lost to them on a close 2-1 decision" reported head coach Douglas Tschetter. John Ward and Timothy Whelan, a sophomore policy team earlier in the year who switched to public forum during the season, returned to policy debate for this contest. In their quarter-final draw, they met a team from Lennox where they were eliminated.

In Lincoln/Douglas debate, Josh Grabow advanced to the quarter-final round where he was defeated by a speaker from Groton. Jesse Nelson also participated in Lincoln/Douglas debate. Jesse had a tough preliminary round draw as he met the eventual champion in round 1 and the runner-up in round 2.

In public forum debate, Brenna Rausch and Brent Seehafer advanced to the semi-final round where they were ousted by a team from Lennox. Mitch Wagner and Camilla Oedling were eliminated in the preliminary rounds as they also debated the eventual champion and runner-up in their preliminary rounds.

Tschetter, who is assisted by Ron Frauenshuh, commented, "It was a good weekend with many students stepping up their performances. Of course, it is disappointing for students who are eliminated from the contest as it goes on, but I am not disappointed in their performances. As long as you work hard and do your best, satisfaction is there. However, it is a strange feeling as the season comes to a close."

Student Congress is the final forensic event for Milbank. Contest include the Upper Dakota Forensic League Conference contest in Groton on March 23rd, East River Congress in Brookings on March 26th and Milbank Congress on the 30th. The District NFL Congress will be held in April in Pierre.

I have spent the last few months assisting the young adults in debate. May I first point out what many of you know, Mr. Tschetter is an absolutely great educator. He discplines when appropriate and encourages when appropriate and most importantly has earned the respect of these young adults.

My high school debate coach and forensic coach had a life-long impact on me and this educator will have life long impacts on many of the young adults he comes in contact with.

It has been a pleasure working with a man of this caliber!