MHS Debaters Bring Home the Gold

The annual Brookings Bell tournament was held Friday and Saturday, December 17-18. Over 300 students from 17 schools attended.  Milbank students competed in the Student Congress competition for the first time and clinched four of the top five places. Of the 31 places in the novice division, Shane Spiering earned first place; Qualon Grant tied for second, Camila Monroy took fourth, and Max Schuelke was fifth. Bergen Nolting took ninth, Rylen Frerichs tied for 10th, and Brooke Schwagel earned 18th.

Varsity debater Lydia Street also brought home the first-place trophy in Student Congress. Coach Kathy Tyler said, “It was a good day!” And, that was just Friday.

Saturday was devoted to debate. Max Lightfield won the first-place trophy in novice Lincoln-Douglas competition.
Max Schuelke received the top speaker point award for novice Public Forum debaters. Coach Tyler explained. “For every forensics event a student enters, the student receives speaker points based on speaking skills, organization, and professionalism. Sometimes, the speaker points are more important than the win-loss record because it’s considered a testament to speaking skills. In addition to event winners, Brookings presents a Top Speaker Points award in each division. 

Coach Tyler said, “To top it all off, Milbank brought home the second place sweepstakes award in the  A school division.”
According to Coach Tyler, the students competed in several divisions and didn’t bring home trophies, but also made a good showing. Max Schuelke and Rylen Frerichs compiled a 3-2 record, Shane Spiering and Qualon Grant were 1-4, Brooke Schwagel and Lydia Street also 1-4, and Ivy Lewno had a  2-3 in Lincoln Douglas.

MHS debaters also attended an online novice debate tournament sponsored by Aberdeen Central on December 7. Max Schuelke, as a maverick, Shane Spiering, and Qualon Grant won all three of their rounds. The team of Greg Grabow and Rylen Frerichs compiled a 2-1 record.

“To say I’m proud of these debaters is an understatement. They work so hard.” Coach Tyler said. “Most are continuing their debate journey next semester. It will be harder; there is no debate class and everything will be done after school. There will be new resolutions in January and six weekend tournaments are scheduled in January and February.” 

Photos: top- Qualon Grant, Shane Spiering, Max Lightfield, Lydia Street, Ivy Lewno,Rylen Frerichs, Max Schuelke, Brooke Schwagel

Second photo: Brooke Schwagel, Camila Monroy, Qualon Grant, Rylen Frerichs, Shane Spiering, Bergen Nolting, Max Schuelke, Lydia Street