Four Lawrence-area students qualified Saturday for the national speech and debate tournament that will take place this summer in Overland Park.

The students earned slots at the national tournament by placing among the top three at the East Kansas National Forensics League District tournament that was held Thursday through Saturday at Olathe South High School.

From Lawrence High School, sophomore Stefan Petrovic qualified by placing first in international extemporaneous speaking. And freshman Sungho Hwang qualified by finishing second in Lincoln-Douglas debate.

From Free State High School, junior Solomon Cottrell placed second in international extemporaneous speaking, and sophomore Genevieve Prescher placed third in original oratory.

That brings to eight the total number of Lawrence-area students who will go to nationals this year. It also marks the 10th consecutive year that Lawrence High has qualified to speech and debate nationals.

Earlier, Free State senior Hannah Moran and LHS junior Hayley Luna qualified in congressional debate, an event whose tournament is held separately from the other forensics competitions. Moran qualified in the House division, and Luna qualified in Senate.

In addition, two other Free State students will go to nationals in congressional debate. Senior Yang Yang Li will compete in the House division, and Linda Liu will compete in the Senate competition. They both qualified as alternates and were named to the national tournament when speakers ahead of them opted to compete in other events.

The national tournament will be held June 15-20 in Overland Park.