Gainesville —
Gainesville High School (GHS) seniors Conner Markle and Ty Hayes have successfully debated their way to the National Championship Tournament of the National Forensics League (NFL) coming up June 14 in Birmingham, Ala.
The GHS District win, during the 3-day competition held in mid-February in Melissa, was especially sweet as Markle and Hayes beat teams from all divisions including students from larger Class 5A schools, GHS UIL coordinator Craig Hertel said.
“This is a real thrill for us,” he said. “ We’re entering uncharted territory for GHS debate.”
Schools from across north central Texas and part of the Metroplex participated in the competition.
The format of the district meet puts teams in a double-elimination style tournament.
The designation “up” means a team is undefeated. If a team is “down” it means they have a loss. If a team has two “downs” they are eliminated from the tournament. The GHS team remained “up” during the entire tournament and was the only team to have won all their rounds.
The National Forensic League is similar to the University Interscholastic League (UIL) competitions except it is geared for Speech and Debate.
To attend the tournament, students must place among the top competitors in one of 109 District Tournaments. Qualifiers compete for over $200,000 in college scholarships.
The final rounds of the tournaments are judged by CEOs, former Cabinet members, stage and screen celebrities, sponsors and high profile community members.
“This is definitely exciting because we will be going against the best debaters in the nation,” Markle said. “Ty and I have doubled our research since making it to the national tournament and we are making sure our evidence is solid.”
Team mate Ty Hayes said he’s looking forward to the competition.
“Hoping we can break the top 60 at Nationals and do well,” Hayes said. “ It’s going to be really interesting competing against other teams from across the nation.”
Teams at the national tournament will debate the question, “Should the U.S. Government substantially increase its transportation infrastructure inside the United States?”
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Gainesville High School students Ty Hayes, left, and Conner Markle prepare for a national debate competition. Courtesy photo
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GHS duo headed to national debate competition
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