2024 Debate Advance Release

The Debate State Tournament, the Minnesota State High School League’s longest-running event, will be held at the University of Minnesota campus in Minneapolis on January 12-13. The first tournament was held in 1902.

Champions will be crowned in four categories on Saturday evening.

Here is a snapshot of the tournament:

• Minneapolis South’s Ava Winters and Farmington’s Abbey Nelson are the highest returning qualifiers in Policy Debate. Both fell in the semifinals in 2022 and both return with new partners. Winters will team up with Shannon Voelkel and Nelson will partner with Gavin Andrews.
• Devarsh Borah of Edina is the only 2022 medalist returning in Congressional Debate. He is looking to improve on last year’s sixth-place showing.
• Borah was recently selected to serve on the Minnesota Youth Council, part of the Minnesota Alliance With Youth. The council is a group of 36 junior and senior high school students working together to empower youth and mobilize young people across the state to exercise their voices and take action on issues affecting youth.
• None of last year’s Top 8 qualifiers return in Lincoln-Douglas Debate.
• Zellie Olson and Eva Redmond of Blake return in Public Forum. They finished second to teammates Elizabeth Terveen and Sofia Perri in 2022.
• Olson and Redmond were the First Year Public Forum Debate National Champions in 2022.

For complete information on the tournament, including a schedule and results, please visit www.mshsl.org/debate