The Manhattan High Debate team finished up their season in an unusual way. With the winter ice storm leaving roads blocked and students trapped the debate team had to compete in the State tournament over Zoom. Being on Zoom brought some challenging and funny moments for the team.

“You don’t get to have the same speaking abilities as you do at a normal tournament,” senior Kennedy Crabtree said. “You’re limited by technology, because Zoom’s glitching in and out. And then B, the fact that you already had to recognize, meet your judges where they’re at, and be able to recognize what they’re recognizing within your speeches. And then on top of that, if their camera’s not on, you don’t know what they’re digesting from what you just said, and how they’re absorbing that if they even hear what you’re saying, because maybe your mic cut out.” 

Junior Emron Streetman enjoyed being on Zoom.

“It was actually really nice, because we didn’t need to travel all the way to Washburn Rural and it was actually pretty accessible and a lot. I enjoyed it quite a bit, to be honest,” Streetman said

Junior Wyatt Adams competed with Streetman in the DCI competition. In the novice open were freshman Gerin Krush and sophomore Haley Hughes, sophomore Dylan Spencer and freshman Eli Streetman, and sophomore Olive Zhang and junior Zoey Broda. Broda and Zhang placed sixth and eighth in the speaker awards for the novice open.

Freshman Finley Bennet and Olivia Ruhl competed in the novice category.

Taking second place in the KDC were seniors Salina Wang and Crabtree, along with a second place Wang received seventh in the KDC speakers award.

“I would say a lot of teamwork has gone into this year. And prep amongst the team,” Crabtree said. “You can’t do this alone at all. We’ve all learned that lesson, been in debate long enough that no one can do this alone.”