photo by: Contributed

Free State High School's four-speaker debate team displays their third-place State Debate Championship trophy. From left: Oliver Fredrick, Cooper Hefty, Sophie Racy, Connor Brown, Gilly Falin and Olive Minor.

The Free State High School four-speaker debate team capped its season with a third-place finish at the Class 6A State Debate Championship Saturday in Olathe, marking the third consecutive year that the team has medaled at the showcase event.

Free State finished the tournament with a 9-5 record, as Washburn Rural High School and Blue Valley West finished first and second, respectively. Free State’s team was composed of debate pairs Connor Brown and Gilly Falin and Sophie Racy and Cooper Hefty. Oliver Fredrick and Olive Minor served as alternates.

“Any time you can bring home a trophy from the state tournament, it’s a really excellent accomplishment,” said Free State debate coach Kelly Thompson, “and I’m certainly proud of the students and assistant coaches who worked really hard to get us there.”

Brown, a senior, said that preparation for the eight-team round-robin format differed from the bracket-style tournaments they had competed in throughout the season. The match-ups at state were pre-set, as opposed to being randomly selected just 30 minutes before the competition.

Racy, also a senior, said the state format “allowed us to feel more prepared.”

“Because we knew who we were going to debate against, there was a lot more time … before the tournament preparing for specific types of rounds we thought we would have,” she said, “rather than being at a tournament, getting a pairing, and having to figure it out in the moment.”

Brown said that he took a keen interest in this year’s debate resolution, which is the topic assigned for competition. This year’s resolution pertains to fiscal redistribution and whether it should be increased in the United States through various means, including the expansion of Social Security, establishing a universal basic income or adopting a federal jobs guarantee.

“Generally, inequality is the root of a lot of problems in society,” he said. “This was a broad topic, and there are a lot of benefits that come from doing fiscal redistribution.”