Milbank Wins Class A Trophy at Renamed Speech Fiesta Tournament

The Milbank debate team accrued 166 points to win the first-place Class A Sweepstakes trophy at the inaugural Donus and Lovila Roberts Speech and Debate Invitational held at Watertown High School on January 19-20. The tournament was actually celebrating its 75th Anniversary, as it was formerly known as the Speech Fiesta.

Over 175 competitors from 15 schools vied for the top spots. After Milbank, Lennox took second place in Class A. Aberdeen Central notched first place in the Class AA Sweepstakes. Sioux Falls O’Gorman was second, and Harrisburg took third.

For the Bulldogs, Bri Hicks earned first in novice Lincoln-Douglas debate and Max Schuelke brought home second-place honors in varsity Lincoln-Douglas debate. The novice Public Forum team composed of Jenna Korstjens and Taylor Hallquist went 4-0 to advance to the semifinals. They finished by winning the third-place award. Keira Steffen participated in the varsity Congressional Debate on Friday and Saturday, and, although she did not place, she received excellent scores.

In Friday’s Individual Events tournament, Max Schuelke placed fifth in Domestic Extemp. Trixie Coalter competed in Program Oral Interp. T. Coulter and Izabella Coalter participated in Duo Interp. Shane Spiering entered the International Extemp competition. Charlotte Street debated for the first time in a novice Public Forum with her partner, Dana Chan. Shane Spiering competed as a maverick (alone) in JV Public Forum. Bri Hicks, Max Schuelke (2), and Shane Spiering each won perfect 30-point speaker scores.

Kathy Tyler, head coach for the Bulldogs, commented, “I am so proud of our debaters and so grateful to our assistant coaches, Miriah Hicks and Sandy Christenson. We all learn and grow a little more with each tournament.”

Donus and Lovila Roberts, for whom the tournament is now named, are a married couple that teamed up and became well-known nationally as a debate-coaching duo. During their 39 and 45-year careers (Lovila 1958-2003/ Donus 1960-1999), Watertown’s debate and individual events program was the largest in South Dakota and regularly one of the five largest in the United States. The WHS varsity teams won 72 percent of their debates. Under the couple’s guidance, Watertown’s record was 220-92 in state debate competition. They also piloted their teams to fourteen state championships and eleven second-place state awards.

In 2011, Donus was inducted into the South Dakota Hall of Fame. His national accolades include the National Forensic League’s Hall of Fame and South Dakota Debate Coaches Hall of Fame. He also became the second debate coach ever elected to the National Federation’s High School Hall of Fame.

What’s next for the Bulldogs? Milbank will travel to the Lewis and Clark Invitational in Yankton on Friday and Saturday, January 26- 27. Debaters will introduce a new topic—Resolved: The United States Should Ban All Single Use Plastics. This is the final topic for the year and will be used at the national qualifier and the state debate tournaments at the end of February. Lincoln-Douglas debaters will use the new topic Resolved: The United States Ought to Substantially Reduce its Military Presence in the West Asia-North Africa Region.

Submitted Photo: Back row—Shane Spiering, Max Schuelke, Charlotte Street, Taylor Hallquist. Front—Bri Hicks, Keira Steffen, Izabella Glomstad, Jenna Korstjens, Dana Chan. Not pictured is Trixie Coalter.