The Park Hill South speech and debate team had a solid outing when it took 12 students to compete at Lee’s Summit West and Lee’s Summit North on Nov. 4 and 5.
Senior Timmy Tasler competed in three events at Lee’s Summit North on the weekend: International Extemporaneous Speaking, Original Oratory and Lincoln-Douglas. Tasler made it to the semifinals in Original Oratory and took second place in Champion Lincoln-Douglas debate.
“This debate section is the most competitive division offered,” Park Hill South speech and debate coach Hannah Townsend said. “Timmy is normally a policy debater – which is a type of evidence-based team debate – but this weekend his partner Ben Shepherd was out of town on a college visit, so Timmy decided to take it solo and try out a different form of debate.”
Park Hill South’s Zach Hilinger, above left, and Aidan Morris, above right, finished in fifth and sixth places in Student Congress at Lee’s Summit North on Nov. 4 and 5.
Townsend said Tasler utilized the skills he has in cultivated from extemporaneous and oratorical speaking and policy debating to secure second place in the tournament. On a 2-1 decision, the Park Hill South senior lost the final round as he was just one ballot away from winning the whole tournament.
“It was great for our team – mostly made up of novices – to be able to see Timmy’s success at the varsity level. It’s super encouraging for them as they prepare to take on varsity level competition in the spring season and coming years,” Townsend said.
Henry Van Asselt and Roberto Shepherd secured multiple novice wins at Lee’s Summit West in United State Extemporaneous Speaking (USX), International Extemporaneous Speaking (IX) and Policy Debate. The duo earned fourth place in USX and third place in IX, respectively.
“They continue to have success at each and every tournament. I’m super proud of their consistency and ability to improve based on feedback from their judges,” Townsend said.
Additionally, Asselt and Sheperd finished in third place in Policy Debate, which was their partnered event. On a 2-1 decision, the Park Hill South duo just missed the mark for the finals round.
Jackson Wheeler collected third place in Lincoln-Douglas Debate and after going 3-1 in preliminary rounds, he advanced to quarterfinals. In that round, Wheeler defeated the first seed on a 2-1 decision to move forward to the semifinals.
“This was a huge win for Wheeler since it’s his second tournament of the season. You’ll recall that he went 4-2 at Belton a few weeks ago and was just inches away from receiving an award, so this is solid redemption for the debater,” Townsend said.
Aidan Morris and Zach Hilzinger both competed in Student Congress and secured fifth and sixth places, respectively. This was Morris’ second time being awarded in the event this year but was the first for Hilzinger this fall.
Reese Dutton ended in sixth place in Original Oratory in her first time ever competing. Riley Delles and Leona Dalakishvili both advanced to semifinals.
“This was a solid first-tournament showing for the two (Delles and Dalakishvili). In a heartbreaking turn of events, Leona received ranks of 2, 2, and 6 from a panel of judges that kept her from competing in finals,” Townsend said.
Park Hill South had several other debaters go 3-1 in preliminary debate rounds: Benjamin Cat, Reese Dutton, Remington Riddell and Hilzinger. Those students were close to reaching the quarterfinals, but fell short in tiebreakers.
Before that competition, Park Hill South took second place – being just 11 points shy of first place, which was claimed by Park Hill – out of 10 schools who attended the Maryville Kinman Classic on Oct. 28 and 29. Park Hill South will have a slight break before its next competition, not having another one until December.