Several members of the Revere Speech and Debate team have earned the opportunity to compete at the Speech and Debate state tournament.

Speech and Debate team members Grace Cao, Leah Espinal, Emily Fischer, Claire Jimerson, Luciya Katcher, Alexi Konstantinopoulos, Jack Krew, Victoria Liu, Anthony Pignataro, Robert Roth, Julia Scott, Megan Warburton, Szofia Wiksell and Melise Williams have all qualified for the state tournament at Olmsted Falls and Berea High school.

Team adviser and Cuyahoga Community College professor John Kerezy talked about the details of the tournament, and how a competitor would advance through the tournament. He also explained the team’s affiliations.

“The State Championships is an elimination tournament. Speakers and debaters compete on Friday, March 3, right after Tri Exams and Saturday morning March 4. Those who advance go on to quarterfinals, semifinals, and final rounds, depending upon their event. Revere belongs to the Ohio High School Speech League (OHSSL) which governs all Ohio speech and debate programs. Revere also belongs to the National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA), which governs National competitions. There is not a connection between the two,” Kerezy said.

Kerezy also noted the differences in intensity between regular season competitions and the state tournament.

“States are intense. We face the best of Ohio from five other districts, besides Akron. In the last seven years, only one Revere competitor has advanced beyond preliminaries at the State Tournament, that was Drew Espinal last year, who went to State Finals in Congressional Debate. It is a big challenge for us, but we are up for that challenge this year,” Kerezy said.

Revere junior and co-vice president Megan Warburton explained that a competitor can earn a spot in the state tournament.

“There are two ways to [earn a spot]. First a competitor can ‘bid in.’ Basically, how many competitors [participate] at that tournament determine the number of bids. For example, if 50 competitors are competing in that event there are six bids (the number of people in each event determine the number of bids for that event. Those bids go to the top placers in the tournament. So if there was six bids, the top six each get one. Those are given out at every tournament, and once a competitor has four, they automatically qualify [for states]. Then, the other option is qualifying at ‘littles.’ There are six rounds that day for debate, and if the debaters go four and two or better they automatically qualify for states. In speech [for example], there is a ratio depending on the number of people competing in that event. So the top students in their events qualify,” Warburton said.

Revere junior and co-vice president Leah Espinal mentioned how much time is required for someone competing at the state tournament.

“For debate prep, it varies for everybody and each event. I am in Congressional Debate, [which] requires five or six speeches to be written each week. Typically, I would put in two hours after school, but homework and studying are getting a lot harder so I usually wake up at 5 am and work until 6, and then 3:30 pm until 5. I try to average one or two speeches a day and get done early so I can have the rest of the week to rehearse them,” Espinal said.

Espinal also talked about how this year’s team reflects the growing influence of Revere throughout the Speech and Debate community.

“Compared to last year, this team has grown exponentially. We have around thirty high school competitors, not to mention a middle school program as well. My coach always says ‘Revere is for real.’ He says this because we have people placing every week, and so many people pre-qualified for states. Anthony Pignataro has the most bids to the state tournament in all of Ohio. We have even been able to beat some big, talented schools at local tournaments,” Espinal said.

The state tournament takes place on Friday, March 3 and Saturday, March 4 at Olmsted Falls and Berea High Schools.