Speech and Debate cleaned up at Crossings Christian, winning 1st place for 5A Sweeps and 2nd place for Champs Sweeps (the first Champs sweeps for HCP). This means that they had more competitors win medals than any other 5A school. While this was a small tournament, HCP came out in full force, sending 15 competitors and earning ten new qualified events for the regional tournament in March. Competitors in Champs events are from both 5A and 6A schools and have previously qualified their event for Regionals. At the moment, HCP has 42 events qualified for regionals, and

The Policy team of seniors Maddy Fresonke and Rachel Newman not only won first place, but Fresonke and Newman took first and second place, respectively, for top speaker in Policy Debate.

For Lincoln Douglas Debate, junior Asher Agee-Moser took first. In Public Forum, senior Elina Avila and freshman Anna Martin took the awards for second and third place top speaker.

Avila and senior Jack Franklin, debate co-captains, said they were excited about how many debaters the team qualified for regionals.

In Foreign Extemporaneous Speaking, seniors Alex DeShazo and Clarence Long took 1st and 2nd respectively. In Champs Foreign Extemporaneous, 1st and 2nd place went to seniors Jake Lange and Franklin, respectively.

Newman took 1st in Domestic Extemp, while Martin took first in Champs Domestic Extemporaneous.

Lange, who is the Extemp captain for the team, said that eight competitors were qualified for Regionals in Extemp, with four added at Crossings, more than any other tournament this season.

Franklin won 1st place for Monologue, as well as Dramatic Interpretation, while junior Alisha Hemani took home 2nd in Champs Monologue.

Avila netted first for Original Oratory, with juniors Nikita Lewchuk and Hemani nabbing 1st and 2nd in Champs Original Oratory.

Lewchuk also took home third in Poetry, with Alice Bennett winning first for Prose.

Last year, Lewchuk took their original oratory on the topic of gender all the way to NSDA (National Speech and Debate Association) Nationals. This year, Lewchuk’s OO is on the topic of invisible disabilities, specifically physical disabilities that cannot necessarily be seen. “I picked this topic because I suffer from cerebral palsy, but because I don’t use crutches or a wheelchair, you wouldn’t necessarily know that unless you were told,” Lewchuk said.

Lewchuk hopes to return to Nationals this year.