photo by: contributed

Free State High School seniors John Marshall and Serena Rupp are pictured in this contributed photo. Marshall and Rupp won the national debate tournament April 25, 2022.

Two Free State High School seniors have won the national debate championship, making both Lawrence and state history and concluding a record-breaking high school career.

On Monday night, the Free State High School debate team of seniors Serena Rupp and John Marshall won the National Championship at the Tournament of Champions hosted by the University of Kentucky. Their win is not only the first national debate championship in Free State High School and Lawrence school district history, but also the first for a team from Kansas, according to a news release from the district.

Kelly Thompson, director of speech and debate, said the win concluded a “record-shattering” high school policy debate career for Rupp and Marshall.

“They’ll graduate next month as one of the most successful teams in Kansas history, and they’ll both continue their debate careers at Emory University (Serena) and Kansas University (John), respectively,” Thompson said in an email.

Specifically, Rupp and Marshall are the first debate team from Free State to earn a Tournament of Champions bid, to win a Tournament of Champions qualifying tournament, to debate at a Tournament of Champions, to advance at the Tournament of Champions, to place in the National Speech and Debate Association’s top 30, two times, and to win a Tournament of Champions.

Rupp and Marshall spent the season ranked in the top five of the National Coaches’ Poll, according to the release. They entered the Tournament of Champions as the No. 4-ranked team in the country after having appeared in the elimination rounds at every tournament attended this season and having placed in the top three at three round-robin tournaments that featured only top-25 teams.

On Saturday, Rupp and Marshall were 2-2 in the tournament’s first four debates. On Sunday, the pair started an eight-round winning streak, including earning votes from 17 of the 18 judges who saw them during the tournament’s final eight rounds.

After the seventh debate, the tournament condensed to its elimination rounds, featuring teams earning a 5-2 record in the preliminary rounds. Rupp and Marshall qualified for the single-elimination bracket as the 11th seed. They were joined by Free State teammates junior Aaron Persinger and sophomore Sophie Racy as the 13th seed. Free State’s teams were the only teams from Kansas to qualify for the elimination debates.

Rupp and Marshall defeated teams from Decatur High School (Georgia), Peninsula High School (California), Little Rock Central (Arkansas), and Mamaroneck (New York), all on unanimous 3-0 decisions, on their way to the final round. In the championship debate, they were matched against a team they had split debates with all season, Berkeley Preparatory School (Florida). Rupp and Marshall emerged victorious on a 2-1 decision by the judges.

Thompson said the team’s topic was: “The United States federal government should substantially increase its protection of water resources in the United States.”

Thompson said that Rupp and Marshall’s championship win has been something they’ve been working toward almost nonstop since the end of their freshman year. He said that has included countless hours of research and practice, 17 weeks worth of debate camps and close to 40 tournaments. He said they’ve been supported by their families, coaches and teammates, but their personal dedication has been paramount.

“But by far the largest credit goes to them for their dedication and work ethic which have contributed to this monumental and historic victory,” Thompson said. “I am so proud of them for all of their accomplishments throughout their high school debate careers, and especially their victory at the Tournament of Champions, which is essentially the highest capstone one can place on a high school debate career.”

Thompson added that he couldn’t wait to see what they will achieve in college debate, but more importantly what they do with their lives beyond that.

“They’re both brilliant, hard-working and talented people who I trust will make an impact on the world!” he wrote.