The PHS Speech and Debate team had an incredible time at the Liberty tournament Friday and Saturday, Jan. 12-13, finishing in third place at the competition. The tournament is one of the largest in the country, with several schools ranked in the top 100. It's the highest the team has ever placed in the tournament. Additionally, the team was the highest placed school in the Kansas City region and in PHS' district.


Here are results from the tournament:

Third Place Overall Sweepstakes

Tournament Champion:

•  Jillian Jetmore - Informative Speaking

Tournament Runner-Up:

• Janna Withrow - U.S. Extemporaneous Speaking

Finalists:

• Public Forum Debate - Ethan Lane and Lauren Lee (3rd Place-JV); Jackson Letts, Nick Letts, Shirom Makkad and
  Caroline O’Shaughnessy (4th Place-V)
• Congress - Jane Markley (3rd place)
• Policy Debate - Mulan Jiang and Thomson Corvin (4th Place-JV)
• U.S. Extemporaneous Speaking - Zosia Czerwinski (6th Place)

Semi-finalists:

• Congress - Lily Jiang and Katrina Zhao
• Informative Speaking - Zara Johnson
• U.S. Extemporaneous Speaking - Pallavi Jonnalagadda
• Original Oratory - Mubariz Tahirkheli
• International Extemporaneous Speaking - Jackson Letts

Quarter-finalists:

• Duo - Haley Miller and Caroline O’Shaughnessy