Salem High School won the school’s first state championship in Debate on Saturday at James Madison University, beating second place Rock Ridge, 21-13.
Salem was led by the State Championship Policy Debate team of junior Claire Rawlins and senior Kaylee Christley who went undefeated in five debates while debating the yearlong resolution on whether the federal government should adopt “a federal jobs guarantee, expanding Social Security, and/or providing a basic income.” Debaters must be prepared to debate both sides of the resolution in the hour and a half long competition.
Rawlins also has the distinction of becoming the first student in Salem history to win both a Forensics event title, Impromptu Speaking, and a debate event in the same year. It is a very rare event in VHSL history that any student does this, the division said. She also won a first-place medal for Policy speaker points, which is an individual award that does not impact team points.
Christley won her second medal at state debates after placing 4th in Policy last season.
Christley and Rawlins went a combined 10 wins and 1 loss in VHSL competition while winning the Region, Super Region and State championships.
Lebron Parsell and Hannah Gordon placed 2nd and 3rd respectively in Lincoln-Douglas, while debating the March-April resolution, “The primary objective of the United States criminal justice system ought to be rehabilitation.” It was Stovall’s second state debate medal after placing 3rd in Lincoln-Douglas last year. Stovall was also a state champion in Extemporaneous Speaking for Forensics.
The girls combined to win eight team points for Salem, with team points awarded as 7, 5, 3, 1 for first through fourth places. Both Parsell and Gordon had 5-2 records on the day, with Parsell winning the head-to-head matchup as the tiebreaker.
Additional medalists include:
- Luke Stovall placed 2nd in Policy speaker points
- Rebekah Steinweg was 3rd place in Congressional Debate
- Luke Stovall and Lance Toapanta were 3rd place in Policy Debate
-The Salem Times-Register
