Debate's dazzling dynamic duo

Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Submitted photo Fort Scott High School senior Tyler Slinkard, left, and junior Taylor Nielson won the Class 4A High School State Debate tournament in the two-speaker division. The tournament took place over the weekend at Fort Scott High School as well as the middle school. Winning the grand prize was made even sweeter after the duo went undefeated, winning 10 consecutive rounds.

To the victor goes the spoils, or in this case, the state championship trophy.

The Fort Scott High School two-speaker debate team of Tyler Slinkard and Taylor Nielson took home the Class 4-A 2014 High School State Debate tournament crown. The championship event was held at FSHS over the weekend for Class 4A and 3-2-1A, two and four-speaker division teams.

"They're my fourth consecutive state champ kids," said first year FSHS debate and forensic teams coach Amber Toth, who won Debate state championships (2011-2013) with Caney Valley High School in Class 3-2-1A.

Toth said Slinkard and Nielson won 10 consecutive rounds during the tournament, which she considered to be a "pretty impressive" accomplishment.

"They were the only undefeated team period (in the tournament), and that doesn't happen very often," Toth said. "They are my first undefeated kids ever. This is one of the proudest moments in my coaching career."

Slinkard and Nielson defeated Trinity Academy (Wichita) in the championship round. Trinity was also undefeated heading into the event's final round when they matched up with FSHS. Toth considers Trinity to be a strong program in the world of Kansas high school debate.

"I knew that we had a really, really good chance of being the state champions," Toth said. "But because being undefeated is pretty rare, I didn't know that we would go undefeated, but I expected them to be the champs."

The FSHS two-speaker teams of Mady McColm and Ben Sweyko, as well as Jacob Pemberton and D.J. Blethens each advanced to the octo-final round (quarter-final round), which is essentially a 16-team single elimination bracket tournament. The team of Pemberton and Blethens entered the octo-finals as a No. 4 seed, while the team of McColm and Sweyko were a 12-seed, placing them in the top 16 in the state in their respective class and division. The FSHS two-speaker team of Camden Stiles and Jasmine Davis fell a couple of points short of qualifying for the octo-final round, according to Toth.

"As far as the two-speaker division is concerned I was thrilled all across the board," Toth said. "Almost all of our two-speaker teams made it to out-rounds (single-elimination) in the two-speaker division."

The FSHS four-speaker team, consisting of sophomores Sebastian Loyd, Kiera Taravideh, Charlotte Hutchison, Garrett Tatro, and alternates Zach Humble and Austin Alfaro, finished sixth out of eight total teams in the event. In December, they won a debate regional championship in Independence, helping them to qualify for the state tournament.

"(Their finish) was really good considering they are only second-year debaters," Toth said. "They had really tough competition but still were able to hold their own, and I was really proud of that."

Toth said gaining this type of experience for such a young team will prove valuable over the next two years.

"And that is one of the things that is the most exciting, is for them to have so much success so young," Toth said. "It builds their confidence level. It also shows them what the state tournament is like, because that can be a daunting experience when you're unaware of it. And I think it will give them the confidence they need to be very successful the next two years."

Overall, Toth said she was pleased with the weekend's festivities, which took place Friday and Saturday at FSHS and Fort Scott Middle School.

"There were zero issues," Toth said of the event. "There were zero issues because of the organization and pre-planning of a million different entities. From the (USD 234) administration to the (Fort Scott Area) Chamber of Commerce."

Toth said she, as we all as other debate coaches, were "thoroughly impressed" by the presence of (USD 234) administration throughout the entire tournament.

"It really demonstrated the professionalism that I have experienced the entire time that I have been here (in Fort Scott)," Toth said. "From (USD 234 Superintendent) Dr. Gross helping in the concession area to (FSHS Activities Director) Mr. Fink, (FSHS Principal) Mr. Beckham, and Mr. Pruitt being at the tournament and helping both days from start to finish."

Additionally, Toth said she was impressed by the high level of competition on display during the tournament.

"I definitely think that the level of competition was very fierce," she said. "There were a lot of very strong, well-known in the debate world competitors involved, and I think it was a very difficult competition. I think that the kids handled their own very, very well against very strong programs."

Coming into a new job after recently leaving Caney Valley (HS), Toth said she thought the transition phase of working with all new kids would likely pose a strong challenge.

"I'm appreciative of the fact that, what could have easily been a difficult transition year coming in with new kids, and them having a new coach, was something that we could overcome and still bring home a state championship," she said.

Toth said during the debate season, her students put in long hours prepping for matches and tournaments. Toth also mentioned some qualities and attributes this year's FSHS debate team students had, which included: their willingness to always put forth the effort and always do the work necessary to compete at a high level.

"I don't know if anyone realizes the number of hours that these kids put in a day, a week, in order to be successful in debate," Toth said. "While we have it as a class, that is not where their (debate prep) work is done. These kids are working on debate until 9, 10 o'clock or later every night. We have practice every night, they give up their weekends, every Friday, every Saturday to go debate."

El Dorado High School will host the 2015 High School State Debate tournament, Jan. 14-16.