Milbank Takes Class A Sweepstakes at Bell Tournament

Brookings High School hosted the 27th annual Bell Debate and IE contest on December 17-18th. Milbank defended its Class A sweepstakes championship title. MHS tallied 176 points while Vermillion finished in the runner up spot with 149. Third place was Harrisburg with 61.
Several Milbank students reached the final round of individual events. Three Milbank students reached the novice extemp finals with Nathaniel Steinlicht claiming the championship. Sam Grorud finished in third place and Allwin McDonald was fifth. In novice oratory, Tori Reminton reached the final round and placed third. Rachel Johannsen also reached the final round and captured fifth. Jacob Manlove advanced to the final round of Varsity Foreign Extemp but was unable to compete in it because of the postponed ACT test.
Others competing in Individual Events were Varsity Foreign Extemp--John Ward; Varsity US Extemp--Tim Whelan, Jesse Nelson, Mitch Wagner; Novice Extemp--Jacob Erickson, Rebecca Schrupp, Rachel Johannsen, Morgan Jones, Taylor Welberg, Seth McDonald, Katie Loutsch; Varsity Original Oratory--Brent Seehafer; Novice Original Oratory--Audrey Souza, Emily Pillatzki, Kasey Schmidt; Dramatic Interp--Brenna Rausch; Duet Interp--Katie Loutsch and Sam Grorud.
Several Milbank students were also honored in the debate portion of the tournament. Jesse Nelson advanced to the semi-final round of Varsity Lincoln/Douglas debate with his 4-1 record. Nathaniel Steinlicht was the third place winner in Novice Lincoln/Douglas debate with a 3-1 record. A quartet of Milbank novice policy debaters were 1st in their division with a combined 7-1 record. Allwin McDonald and Taylor Welberg were the affirmative pair and Morgan Jones and Tori Remington were the negative pair. Taylor and Tori won individual awards for being top speakers in this category.
Other debate results include: Junior Varsity Public Forum--Katie Loutsch and Sam Grorud, 2-2; Varsity Public Forum--Timothy Whelan and John Ward, 1-3; Brent Seehafer and Nathaniel Steinlicht (subbing for a student who became ill) 1-3; Varsity Lincoln/Douglas--Mitchell Wagner, 2-3, Jacob Manlove, 1-1; Novice Lincoln/Douglas--Seth McDonald, 0-4; Junior Varsity Policy--Rebecca Schrupp and Rachel Johannsen, 1-4; Novice Policy--Emily Pillatzki and Audrey Souza; 1-3; Sierra Baumgart and Taylor Seehafer--2-2.
The team's next competition is the PMJ debate at Fargo Shanley in January.