St. Teresa’s parliamentary debate teams emerged victorious from the STA-hosted tournament April 5.

“I think [the debate] went really well,” sophomore debate team member Amelia Schulte said. “I think the girls were more confident because it was on home turf, and the results turned out really well.”

Junior Madi Winfield and sophomore Bridget Graham won first place in the novice division, while freshmen Katie Gregory and Anna Malone won sixth place. In the varsity division, junior Michaela Coleman and sophomore Karen Crouch, the only STA varsity debaters at yesterday’s event, won first place as well.

This was STA’s third time hosting since joining the Metropolitan Parliamentary Debate League.

“[Hosting a debate tournament] involves way more than the students ever realize,” adviser Kate Absher said. “We have to make up brackets, which is incredibly complicated. We schedule, we make sure the classrooms are ready, we invite the teams, we get the work orders sent in, we get everything ready… Now that we’ve done it [three times], it’s pretty easy at this point.”

The schools debating were Center High School, Harrisonville High School, Lone Jack High School, Notre Dame de Sion High School, Pius XI High School, Rockhurst High School, St. Teresa’s Academy, University Academy and Whitefield Academy.