Last weekend Lennox High School was named runner-up as a team at the 2017 State Debate & Individual Events Tournament held at Mitchell High School. Individually two students brought home first place honors, Nathan Waltjer in US Extemp and Max Bultena in International Extemp.
This is the first time that Lennox has had champions in both domestic extemporaneous speaking and international extemporaneous speaking.
Bultena was also a semi-finalist in Lincoln-Douglas Debate. Waltjer finished as a non-advancing quarter-finalist in Lincoln-Douglas. Both Waltjer and Bultena lost their Lincoln-Douglas rounds on 2-1 decisions.
LHS student, Sarah Logan placed fifth in Original Oratory, she placed sixth last year.
Marcus Metivier and Joseph Meyer had their best tournament of the year at State. They went undefeated in the preliminary rounds and lost to the eventual state champions on a 2-1 decision.
The debate team is coached by Mike Larson and Brooke Pelleschi. This is the second year in a row that the Lennox High School team has earned runner-up honors in Class A, LHS brought home the Championship title in 2015.
Larson said, “We had a very inexperienced team. For many of the competitors, this was their first year in their event. This is what makes this showing even more impressive. With a lot of good work and focus, the students allowed their talents to shine.”