The OHS Speech and Debate team competed in MSHSAA Districts this past weekend (March 4-5) at Parkway South.

In International Extemporaneous Speaking, Aaron Mohabbat (11) made it to finals, ultimately placing seventh. Mohabbat and Ryan Westwood (10) advanced to quarterfinals in Public Forum debate, but lost. Shaun Lamar (11) also also advanced to quarterfinals of Lincoln Douglas debate but was defeated.

“I was…excited to break to quarterfinals in LD. This is the event that I really wanted to qualify in, so I was pretty sad that I lost…There’s still hope next weekend that I can qualify to nationals in LD,” Lamar said.

In US Extemporaneous Speaking, however, Lamar took third and will advance to State Championships at Missouri State University in April.

“It was very surprising because I don’t usually do this event. I’ve only done it one other time this year. I also feel like I know next to nothing about politics or what’s happening in US news. Somehow, it worked out,” Lamar said. “As surprised as I was, I’m still excited to go to state for the experience. I went last year in Poetry Interpretation and really enjoyed it. Now I can say that I qualified for two years in a row.”

The Speech and Debate team will compete next on March 10-12 at the National Speech and Debate Association Districts at Clayton and Pattonville.