The three Class 6A four-speaker debate regional champions from 2021 nearly repeated this year, if not for the upset efforts of Shawnee Mission South.

The Raiders crew of Brooklynn Hato, Clare Bradley, Asra Swinson, Jayme Pickering and Caroline Hiebl stormed back in the final round to win the regional they hosted, preventing Blue Valley West from joining Washburn Rural and Lawrence Free State as repeat champs.

A Blue Valley West loss during the final round opened the door for Shawnee Mission South to not only force a 9-1 tie between the teams, but also move ahead of the Jaguars in the judges’ ballots. With a 6-3 ballot advantage for the fifth round, the Raiders took first with a 27-26 total. Blue Valley finished with a 6-4 record to take third place.

Washburn Rural was not able to match the undefeated records through regionals and state that the team sported last year, but the Junior Blues still won the regional title once again. 

This year’s Washburn Rural team of Kavi Chidambaranathan, Evander Davis, Karissa Kromminga and Aditi Nimishakavi finished 7-1 with 21 judges’ ballots, giving a sizable advantage over second-place Manhattan and third-place Garden City, both of which finished 4-4. Manhattan got the runner-up nod thanks to 12 judges’ ballots to Garden City’s 10. Campus finished with 11 judges’ ballots, but missed the state cut with a 3-5 record at the event.

Lawrence Free State won its home regional with a 9-1 record. Olathe North took runner-up with a 7-3 record. Lawrence finished third, earning the tiebreaker over fellow 6-4 Olathe Northwest thanks to 18-15 judges’ ballot advantage over the Ravens. 

The Firebirds will be represented at state by AJ Persinger Sophie Racy, Emma Stammeyer, Emma Hefty, Lena Haskiuk and Breahna Randall.

In Class 5A, Blue Valley Southwest stayed on course to challenge for its eighth straight four-speaker state title. The Timberwolves joined De Soto and Maize as regional champs. 

Blue Valley Southwest went 10-0 with the team of Brett Cranor, Harvin Sandhu, Amy Lloyd and Maggie Howerton and held a seven-ballot advantage over the next best team at the Timberwolves’ home regional. Lansing finished second with a 7-3 record and 20 judges’ ballots. Sumner Academy found itself in a three-team tie based on its 4-6 record, but Sumner’s 15 judges’ ballots put them in the clear of Spring Hill’s 12 and St. James Academy’s 11.

De Soto went 7-1 at the Emporia regional with 19 judges’ ballots to win the title. Emporia finished runner-up at 6-2 while Topeka Seaman took third at 5-3.

Maize won the Salina South regional with the team of Marianne Griffith, Hayden Christensen, Payten LaPoint, Matthew Fairlie and Adrian Sanders, edging out last year’s regional champ Great Bend. Both teams finished 7-1 and remained tied through the first two rounds despite Maize’s one defeat taking place in the first round. The Eagles ended up pulling away for a 21-18 advantage in the judges’ ballots to earn the victory. Eisenhower took third with a 4-4 record.

McPherson and Bishop Miege won the two Class 4A regional competitions, with McPherson winning its home regional for the second straight year.

McPherson went 8-0 to win its regional while Buhler finished second at 6-2. Rock Creek took third with a 4-4 record. Chanute and Clay Center tied with the same 1-5 record and five judges’ ballots, but Chanute earned a 132-146 speaker points advantage to earn the fourth and final state qualifier spot.

Miege won the Tonganoxie regional with the team of Francesca Chaffee-McClure, Daniel Larson, Norah Carney and Alex Haggerty. The Stags forced Paola into second-place after the Panthers won regionals last year. Miege went 9-1 to edge out Paola 8-2. Tonganoxie finished third with a 7-3 record. Parsons earned the fourth and final state qualifier spot by going 3-7.

Nickerson and Wichita Collegiate hosted and won the Class 3-2-1A regionals, although those competitions played out in much different ways.

The Nickerson crew of Alec Brown, Dacotah Gamber, Haley McGill, Cody Spurlock, Mallory Teufel and Zoie Engleman went to the wire with Sacred Heart as each finished with 15 judges’ ballots and identical 5-1 records. Nickerson earned the edge with 69 speaker points to Sacred Heart’s 74. 

TMP Marian and Sedgwick found themselves in the same situation with ties of 1-5 records and three judges’ ballots. TMP Marian ended up with the third-place finish thanks to a 107-110 speaker point advantage. Both teams qualified for state.

Wichita Collegiate won its regional with a 2-0 record over second-place Osage City. Silver Lake did not compete at the event, but will join those two teams at state.

List of state qualifiers and their coaches (regional champs in bold)
CLASS 6A
Garden City, Russ Tidwell
Lawrence, Jeff Plinsky
Lawrence Free State, Kelly Thompson
Manhattan, Mac Phrommany
Olathe North, Larry Swanson
Blue Valley, Chris Riffer
Blue Valley West, Anne Goodson
Shawnee Mission South, Carolyn Cook
Washburn Rural, Tim Ellis