Chris Theis is first junior to win TOC in sixteen years

Lexington, KY—Solidifying his reputation as the best debater in Apple Valley history, Chris Theis took on the best of the best this past weekend at the University of Kentucky and brought home the school’s first championship.

The tournament, dubbed the Tournament of Champions, invites the best seventy students in the country from among thousands of debaters nationwide. Similar to the Masters Tournament in golf, students qualify for the tournament by succeeding at select tournaments around the nation. Uniquely, the Tournament of Champions rewards students who succeed throughout the year. Among Theis’ successes were his championship performances at both the St. Marks School of Texas and the Emory University tournaments.

Apple Valley students have appeared in the final round of the Tournament of Champions three times previous to Theis’ win. David Singh (’96), Kelsey Olson (’02) and Tim Hogan (’04) all lost the final round on 3-2 decisions. As well, Theis is the second student in tournament history to win the event as a junior, the first junior won in 1992, which was also the last time a junior even appeared in the final round. Apple Valley head coach Pam Wycoff remarked, “This win is especially important for us because it has been twelve years coming for the school. For Chris to win as a junior is incredibly momentous as it really hasn’t been done in his lifetime and it could not have happened to a more deserving, hard working student.”

Theis’ road to the championship included finishing as the fourth place speaker and the fourth seed after losing just one round in preliminary competition. In the first elimination round, Theis defeated Todd Liipfert from Strake Jesuit High School in Houston, Texas. He defeated Andrew Cockroft from Elkins High School in Missouri City, Texas and Joan Gass from the Hockaday School in Dallas, Texas on route to the finals.

The final round pitted Theis against Becca Traber from the Kinkaid School and another Texan. The students debated whether it is just for the United States to use military force to prevent the acquisition of nuclear weapons by nations that pose a military threat. Theis defended the negative and argued that the use of military force violated international law. A panel of seven judges adjudicated the contest and decided on by a 6-1 margin, one of the largest margins in tournament history, that Theis had the winning arguments.

JV FINALISTS: Coon Rapids’ Robyn Sellman and Apple Valley’s Kirstie Kimball

This past weekend, Apple Valley students competed in the Minnesota JV & Novice Debate State Tournament. Over 40 schools from across the state, met at Eagan High School and after two days of grueling competition, two Apple Valley debaters emerged victorious.

In JV, Apple Valley’s Kirstie Kimball, last year’s Novice State Champion, eliminated her competition by losing only one ballot during the course of the two day competition. Apple Valley also bested the field in JV by advancing five students to the elimination rounds on Saturday, more than any other school. In the semifinal round, Kimball was coached over sophomore Abby Gotter. Sophomore Mia Owen finished as a quarterfinalist and sophomores Kyla Koboski and Austin Ritz were octofinalists.

NOVICE FINALISTS: Eagan’s Will Cox and Apple Valley’s Jon Slater

In novice, Apple Valley’s Jon Slater became the third Apple Valley debater to win the novice title in as many years. The novice division was dominated by Apple Valley with six students advancing to elimination rounds. In the semifinal round, Slater was coached over freshman David Lauer. In the quarterfinals, Apple Valley had four debaters meet each other on one side of the bracket so freshmen Maria Powers and Jordan Parmett finished as quarterfinalists without debating; Tom Frekot finished as an octofinalist without debating. Freshman Stephen Bishop was also an octofinalists.

Congratulations to Apple Valley debaters on the three-peat and sweep of the tournament!

AV debaters had another successful showing this weekend at Eagan. In a two part tournament, students had an opportunity to bring home twice the hardware and didn’t disappoint!

On Friday, sophomore Kirstie Kimball took fifth in the varsity division. Teammates, Abby Gotter, Austin Ritz, and Cameron Michelson won 2nd, 5th, and 7th respectively in junior varsity. In a very competitive novice pool, freshman Tom Frekot won the tournament. Jordan Parmett and John Slater were also undefeated and took 3rd and 6th place.

On Saturday, freshman Tom Frekot, David Lauer, Jordan Parmett, and Maria Powers placed 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th with an impressive near sweep of the novice division.

At the season opener, Apple Valley debater, John Slater, brought home the championship for the Eagles in the novice division. Teammates Sean Cheren and Kathryn Horski placed third and fifth respectively, with undefeated records. In the JV division, Austin Ritz and Mia Owen placed second and third respectively with undefeated records. A great start to the season!

The Apple Valley debate team traveled to Des Moines, Iowa to compete against some of the region’s and nation’s best competitors. The team had an outstanding showing with juniors Michelle Keohane and Chris Theis as well as sophomore Kirstie Kimball making it to the octofinal round of competition, placing them among the top sixteen competitors.

Apple Valley debaters continued their success at the Lakeville North tournament with outstanding performances in each division. Freshman John Slater continued his streak, winning his second tournament in a row, with teammates Sean Cheren, Kathryn Horski, Stephen Bishop, and Kassia Tomlinson also finishing with undefeated records and placing second, fourth, seventh, and eighth in their division. In JV, Kayla Koboski and Abbie Gotter placed third and fourth with undefeated records and in the Varsity division, Chris Theis placed third also undefeated.

Last weekend, the Eagles continued their incredible success this season in their second trip to Dallas. The St. Marks Heart of Texas Invitational is one of the most prestigious tournaments in the country, drawing hundreds of competitors from across the country. Sophomore Kirstie Kimball placed in the top third of the competition, while junior Chris Theis brought home the championship for the Eagles. Theis’ record of 19 of 21 demonstrated an impressive domination of his opponents. This is the second time Apple Valley has won the St. Marks tournament, the last time in 2001. His success at this tournament as well as the previous tournament in Dallas, qualifies Theis for the Tournament of Champions in Lexington, Kentucky next May. The success of both students at this tournament places Kimball among the top five sophomores in the country and Theis among the top five varsity debaters, an impressive accomplishment as a junior.

Addison, TX — Congratulations to juniors Chris Theis and Michelle Keohane for a successful showing at the Greenhill Invitational this past weekend. Both Chris and Michelle were outstanding representatives of Apple Valley in Texas.

Chris Theis competed in the quarterfinal round of the Invitational, thereby receiving his first bid to the TOC Tournament in Lexington, Kentucky this May. In addition, Chris was named champion of the prestigious Greenhill Round Robin. Chris is the first Apple Valley debater to ever win this honor and defeated his opponent on a 5-0 decision.

In addition, Michelle Keohane represented Apple Valley well and put forth a great showing at the tournament.

Next, the Eagles will venture to Des Moines, Iowa to compete at the West Des Moines Valley Mid-America Cup Tournament.
Congratulations to both Chris and Michelle on a great start to a successful season!

Congratulations to sophomores Chris Theis and Michelle Keohane for an incredible performance this weekend at the Iowa Round Robin.

Both Chris and Michelle were undefeated in their pods, meaning they were able to forego the partial octofinal round and advance straight to quarterfinals. Apple Valley was, in fact, the only school to have two competitors to participate in the Elite Eight. In quarterfinals, Michelle lost to Laura Kever of Dowling Catholic. Chris advanced to semifinals, where he defeated Amanda Signorelli of the Meadows School on a 3-0 decision and won the tournament by defeating South Eugene’s Ben Schifberg on a 3-0 in finals! Chris did not drop an entire ballot throughout the entire tournament, and becomes the first competitor to participate in the final round of the Iowa Round Robin twice.

Because of their hard work and successful weekend, both Chris and Michelle received scholarships to the Iowa Debate Camp held this summer. The camp is after NFL Nationals in Wichita, KS, where Michelle will compete in Lincoln-Douglas debate and Chris will compete in United States Extemporaneous Speaking.

Congratulations again to both for an outstanding tournament!

This past weekend, eight debaters travelled to Des Moines, Iowa to compete at the Mid America Cup hosted by Valley High School.

The team finished in 5th place overall among the sixty schools representing over fifteen states. This accomplishment was particularly impressive considering that Apple Valley only had students entered in LD debate. Other schools had competitors in many more events. Every student competing at the tournament from Apple Valley made a huge difference in our ability to win this award.

Individually, many of the sophomores, in their first varsity outing, had very impressive showings. As well, Orrin Stone (11) finished with a 4-2 record and missed breaking to the double octofinal round on points. Chris Theis (10) and Tim Greenfield (12) both finished with 5-1 records and defeated their respective double octos opponents to advance to the octofinal round.

Congratulations to the three debaters competing for Apple Valley down at the University of Iowa Round Robin! Once again, Apple Valley had a tremendous performance.

Freshman Chris Theis and junior Tim Greenfield cleared in a highly competitive field. Both Chris and Tim advanced to the semifinal round. In semis, Chris defeated Mike Spirtos from the Meadows School while Tim lost to Joan Gass from the Hockaday School. In the final round, Joan defeated Chris on a 2-1 decision. Sophomore Orrin Stone also competed at the Round Robin.

While the debate season is coming to a close, all three competitors will be at the National Tournament in Dallas in June. Tim and Chris will be competing in Foreign and Domestic Extemp. Speaking respectively, while Orrin will be competing in Student Congress.

The rest of the season’s tournaments include the Tournament of Champions (at which senior Ronni Toledo will be competing), NCFL Nationals (held in Chicago at the end of May), and NFL Nationals (held in Dallas in June). Good luck to all competitors as the season winds down.

In a story primarily about another team in Texas, Apple Valley’s debate team receives mention as one of the top debate teams in the country! It’s great to see the Eagles pride in the Houson media. Everyone should be proud of this accomplishment and the national recognition!

To read the full story, click here.

As many of you know, we suggest that every member of our debate team attend a summer institute to bolster their knowledge, improve their skills, and learn from some of the best instructors in the nation. For decades, the Apple Valley program has sent students exclusively to the University of Iowa’s National Summer Institute in Forensics. This year, is no different with a vast majority of our team committed to attending the institute this summer.

Recently, our own debate coach, Cherian Koshy, was named institute director of the University of Iowa ensuring that the program will continue to meet the needs of Apple Valley students as well as ensure that parents can take comfort in the fact that Apple Valley coaches, such as Cherian and Tim Hogan, will be a presence on campus with their students. This is what Mr. Koshy has to say about Iowa’s program upon accepting the institute director position:

My first experience with Iowa was the summer of 1993 and in the thirteen years that followed, I have been a part of Iowa for ten years. I believe Iowa made me the debater I was as well as the coach I have become. This time-tested model has proved successful for thousands of students, which is why I continue to return each year. We will always be committed to providing our students with professional, qualified, education-focused instruction. I send my students exclusively to the University of Iowa because I believe in the educational model presented, I trust the expertise of the staff, and I can look parents in the eye and ensure that their children will be safe and secure during their stay in Iowa City.

Registration for this program is limited so it is very important that our students register early. Parents and students can view information about the program at www.iowadebate.com and registration opens on February 1st. Please list Cherian Koshy [koshy @ center4publicspeaking.org] as your coach for recommendation purposes. He will distribute those recommendation forms to Colin and David but this will ensure we can keep track of who has registered. If you register quickly, you can take advantage of a $150 discount! This isn’t your typically summer camp program. There won’t be any pony riding or traipsing through the dewy meadows. This is an intensive program that rivals intensive summer college courses. Be prepared for a lot of work but also a lot of fun! We make sure that you receive your money’s worth at Iowa. Remember to sign up for the third week option for even more intensive work.

Parents or students that have questions about the program can contact Cherian or Paul Bellus at the University of Iowa [paul-bellus @ uiowa.edu]. While this is a large financial commitment, parents and students should view this as an investment that will create better performance in school, experience on a college campus with college professors and instructors, access to information and networks for scholarships and college admissions, as well as improved debating skills. If you have financial concerns about attending, please contact Cherian to discuss options.

When you’re ready to enroll, visit www.iowadebate.com