The Hoisington High Debate Team placed second recently at Regional Debate at Sacred Heart in Salina to advance to the 3-2-1A 4-Speaker State Debate Tournament in El Dorado on Jan. 16-17th.
Sacred Heart was first with a 7-1 record, followed by Hoisington with a 5-3 record, and Silver Lake with a 4-4 record. Lyons also had a 4-4 record, but lost the tie-breaker based on number of judges ballots. Sacred Heart, Hoisington, and Silver Lake all advance to State.
The Hoisington affirmative team of Robbie Willesden and Jouquin Fox earned a 2-2 record, defeating teams from Centre (Lost Springs) and Silver Lake. They lost to teams from Lyons and Sacred Heart (Salina).
The Hoisington negative team of Logan McHenry and Nick Doerschlag earned a 3-1 record, defeating teams from Silver Lake, Centre (Lost Springs), and Sacred Heart (Salina). Their loss was to a Lyons team.
Alicia Earegood served as the alternate and timekeeper. The team is coached by Marion Oborny.
At an open (varsity) tournament at TMP-Marian in Hays, Robbie Willesden and Jouquin Fox went 3-2 and placed 7th out of 15 teams. They received a bye and defeated teams from Concordia and Abilene. They lost to two Garden City teams.
In action at an open (varsity) tournament at Trinity in Hutchinson, Nick Doerschlag and Ben Schneider went 3-2 and placed 10th out of 35 teams. They defeated teams from Nickerson, Kingman, and Hutchinson. They lost to teams from Salina-South and Nickerson.  Jouquin Fox was the alternate.
In earlier action at a novice tournament in Lyons, Ben Schneider and Seth Colson went 2-1 and placed 10th out of 33 teams. They defeated teams from Buhler and Hutchinson, but lost to a Sterling team.
Nick Doerschlag and Tiffany Umphrey went 1-2, defeating a Salina-South team, but losing to teams from Buhler and Collegiate (Wichita).
Dustin Edmonson and Brendan Day also went 1-2, receiving a bye and losing to teams from McPherson and Halstead.
In earlier open (varsity) action at Sacred Heart in Salina, Robbie Willesden and Elizabeth Lacey went 3-2 and placed 10th out of 30 defeating two Nickerson teams and a Buhler team.  They lost to teams from Buhler and Salina-South.
Brendan Day and Alicia Earegood earned a 1-4 record with a bye and losses to three Nickerson teams and a Buhler team.
At state, the team will be competing against Sterling, Trinity (Hutchinson), Moundridge, Collegiate (Wichita), Independent (Wichita), Caney Valley, Sacred Heart (Salina), and Silver Lake.