On Friday, Jan. 14 and 15, Washburn Rural hosted the KSHSAA Debate Tournament. 

Wrapping up a successful debate season, Washburn Rural High School hosted both the 5A and 6A debate tournaments. 

At the tournament, there were 165 entries, totaling over 330 debaters who were in attendance. Students traveled from all over the state to compete in either the two-speaker or four-speaker divisions. 

Along with hosting the tournament, Washburn Rural had students participating in both divisions. After winning the district-level competition, seniors Evander Davis and Karrissa Kromminga along with sophomores Kavinayashri Chidambaranathan and Aditi Nimishakavi represented WRHS in the four-speaker division, winning the state championship for the seventh year in a row.

As for the two-speaker competition, WRHS had four entries comprising of juniors Lance Allen and Carson Bath, sophomore Jace Raines and Senior Tess Beach, junior Anna Halstead and sophomore Ariana Smith, along with  sophomore Harris Chaudry and junior Lily Escalante. 

The tournament wrapped up the season for most, however, two Washburn Rural entries will continue to the National-Level tournament located in Phoenix this June. Both Davis and Kromminga as well as Chidambaranathan and Nimishakavi qualified for Nationals in December.