Eastern Missouri Speech & Debate

06/23/2025

Thank you for an unforgettable week, EastMO. Our massive successes are listed below but the love and support we have for each other can’t be summed up so easily.

Thank you to all the adults for caring for these kids like they are your own.
Thank you seniors for all your years.
Thank you to this whole community for putting growth and well being above all else.

Be good to yourself and each other.

~~~~~~~~~~

-Bohan from Ladue was a Student of the Year finalist
-Ladue was a Debate School of Honor
-Silas from CSMB and Jiya from Rockbridge were 4 time qualifiers
-Loudenslager from Rockbridge and Johnston from CSMB earned their first coaching diamond
-Parkway West attended their 50th Nationals

Supplemental Events
-Miles from Jeff City was Top 30 in Prose and 2nd in the nation in Storytelling
-Sahil from Ladue was Top 60 in Impromptu and Top 14 in Extemp Commentary
-Henry from Clayton was Top 24 in Extemp Debate
-Malani from Jeff City was Top 60 in Poetry
-Top 60 in Storytelling: Townes from Jeff City and Alexa from CSMB
-Micah from Rockbridge and Alisha from Parkway West were Top 61 in Spoken Word
-Daya from Marquette was Top 70 in Expository
-Tessa from Hickman was Top 71 in Extemp Debate
-Raaga from Parkway West is Top 120 in Poetry
-Top 120 in Storytelling: Libby from CSMB, Harrison from Jeff City, and Hannah from Rockbridge
-Top 124 in Extemp Debate: Avery from Hickman and Hashir from Rockbridge
-Top 125 in Extemp Commentary: Arjun from Jeff City and Thurlo from Hickman
-Top 130 in Expository: Ryan from Battle and Manaswini & Devansh from Marquette
-Top 208 in Extemp Debate: Ava from Jeff City, Nathan from Ladue, and Gavin from FHN
-Joseph from Rockbridge was 214 in Impromptu

Top 30 Speech
-Anna & Richard from Helias in Duo

Top 60 Speech
-Townes & Harrison from Jeff City in Duo
-Silas in USX from CSMB
-Micah in POI from Rockbridge

Debate
-Luke, Marko, Ashton, Sukhman, and Lillian from FHC were 12th place in World Schools and automatically qualify for next year
-Ashton was the 8th place speaker
-Luke was the TOP speaker in the nation
-Bohan & Eric from Ladue Top 24 in PF
-Vera & Maia from MRH Top 33 in Policy
-Vera 12th place speaker
-Urmil & Rex from Ladue Top 71 in PF

Congress
-Kerra from Rockbridge and Connor from Marquette House Semifinalists
-Shahab from Rockbridge Senate Semifinalist
-David from Rockbridge and Grace from Marquette House Quarterfinalists

06/30/2024

Last week, EastMO SHOWED UP in Des Moines. Congrats on all these individual accomplishments. And three cheers for all the EastMO love and support that made it happen.

RECOGNITION & AWARDS

-Lutheran North High School is attending their FIRST national tournament
-Battle High School is attending their FIFTH national tournament
-Charlie Rubin, from Clayton High School, is a Four-Time National Qualifier
-Natalee Shipley, from Francis Howell Central High School, is a Four-Time National Qualifier
-Camden Fallon, from Battle High School, is East MO’s Student of the Year
-Rich McCollum, from Maplewood-Richmond Heights High School, is getting his First Diamond
-Cate Sanazaro, from Marquette High School, is getting her First Diamond
-Cara Borgsmiller, from Parkway West High School, is getting her Third Diamond
-Josie Johnston, from Collegiate School of Medicine and Bioscience, is receiving the Distinguished Service Plaque - 1st Honors
-Danielle Johnson, from Columbia Public Schools, is receiving a District Leader Commendation Award

MAIN EVENTS

-Saathvik Kannan (Hickman) - 3rd place in US Extemporaneous Speaking
-Andrew Romitti (Rock Bridge) - Semifinalist in Congressional Debate - Senate
-Public Forum Debate Round 11 (Top 21) - Eric Fan and Bohan Pan (Ladue) and Ronith Gouni and Pranav Vaikuntam (Marquette)
-Duo Top 30 - Townes Baker and Harrison Lane (Jefferson City)
-Original Oratory Top 30 - Odessa Javier (Maplewood-Richmond Heights)
-Policy Debate Round 9 (Top 35) - Carter Davis & Yehia Said (Clayton) and Jack Funke and Samantha Siemer (Maplewood-Richmond Heights)
-Informative Speaking Top 60 - Charlie Meyers (Clayton) and Kerra Lindbloom (Rock Bridge)
-International Extemporaneous Speaking Top 60 - Shahab Bariz (Rock Bridge)
-Original Oratory Top 60 - Ethan George (Marquette)
-United States Extemporaneous Speaking Top 60 - Camden Fallon (Battle)
-World Schools Debate Top 60 - Hickman High School (Rylee Goodrich, Tessa Johnson, Amelia Leon-Rudy, and Carlton Wexler) and Parkway West (Riya Ashok, Krish Bhagat, Triya Gudipati, Sophie Kucukkaya, and Vita Madamanchi)

SUPPS

-Avery Johnson (Hickman) - 3rd place in Extemp Debate
-Charlie Rubin (Clayton) - 5th place in Extemp Debate
-Extemp Debate Round 9 - Medha Narayan (Clayton), Katie Ruffing (Jefferson City)
-Extemp Debate Round 7 - Silas Bloch (Collegiate), Nate Boyle (Maplewood-Richmond Heights), Arnav Busani (Marquette), Franklyn Yang (Ladue)
-Extemp Debate Round 6 - Ava Kersten (Jefferson City)
-Extemp Debate Round 5 - Carter Fairlamb (Rock Bridge), Aditi Patel (Rock Bridge), Pierce Rohman (Collegiate), Natalee Shipley (Francis Howell North), and Zay Yontz (Rock Bridge)
-Expository Quarters - Charlie Meyers (Clayton)
-Prose Octos - JiaLi Deck (Clayton) and Miles Sweazea (Jefferson City)
-Storytelling Octos - Miles Sweazea (Jefferson City)
-Extemp Commentary Doubles - Katy Corcoran (Maplewood-Richmond Heights) and Sancho Gatungay (Ladue)
-Expository Doubles - Riley Irwin (Jefferson City), Kerra Lindbloom (Rock Bridge), Jacob Odell (Jefferson City), and Lily Richter (Francis Howell Central)
-Poetry Doubles - JiaLi Deck (Clayton)
-Prose Doubles - Deajah Bailey (Hickman), Anagha Garikapaty (Jefferson City), and Alyssa Mesfin (Rock Bridge)
-Storytelling Doubles - Libby Garrett (Collegiate), Rylee Irwin (Jefferson City), Jenny Schefault (Francis Howell North)

02/11/2024

Districts season is here! Consider donating a few hours of your time to judge.
Please share and sign up!

Within this form you can register for either the National Qualifier for Congress (Feb. 24th), the State Qualifier (March 1st and 2nd), and/or the National Speech & Debate Qualifier (March 14th, 15th, and 16th). Please provide us with as much information as you can. All of these tournaments will be i...

03/19/2023

Congrats to our 2023 team EastMO! here we come!

02/21/2023

Districts season is here! Sign up to judge here:

Within this form you can register for either the National Qualifier for Congress (Feb. 25th), the State Qualifier (March 3rd and 4th), and/or the National Speech & Debate Qualifier (March 16th, 17th, and 18th). Please provide us with as much information as you can. All of these tournaments will be i...

11/06/2022

Thank you Francis Howell Central for being such gracious hosts. And thank you to our amazing community for raising $300 for the SLPS Foundation. If you want to offer your support, donate here.

All proceeds will go toward supporting the families and school communities directly impacted by the tragic event at Central Visual & Performing Arts High School and Collegiate School of Medicine and Bioscience on Monday, October 24th. Contributions in excess of immediate support needs will be rest.....

11/04/2022

Happy tournament Friday! Today & tomorrow GSL hosts a round robin at Francis Howell Central. Good luck everyone!

10/24/2022

Tonight we join folks across the region - and the country - in mourning the lives lost in another senseless school shooting tragedy. Our hearts and minds are with our East MO family at CSMB Speech and Debate as they go through the unthinkable. We are thinking of the entire Central Visual and Performing Arts High School, Collegiate School of Medicine and Bioscience, and the St. Louis Public Schools district and community. We are committed to using our collective voices to fight for a better and safer world - one in which our students and teachers can safely go to school. If you or someone you know needs to talk about this or needs support processing what happened, please reach out — you are not alone and there are counselors, administrators, teachers, parents, and community leaders and organizations here to help.

10/21/2022

Happy tournament Friday! Today we compete at FHN at an events round robin. Tomorrow we are at Parkway Central for a debate round robin. Good luck everyone!

10/14/2022

It’s the first IN PERSON tournament Friday of the season! Here we go, EastMO! Good luck at the .

06/17/2022

Congrats to all of our hardworking coaches who earned diamonds this season:

First Diamond
Nancy Israel, Parkway West High School
Danielle Johnson, Columbia Public Schools

Second Diamond
Molly Beck, Ladue Horton Watkins High School
Jordan Hart, Jefferson City High School