Members of the Mason High School Speech & Debate Team competed at the Greater Miami Valley District Tournament on February 2-3 at Centerville High School. The Comets achieved a record number of 39 state qualifiers to the Ohio Speech and Debate Association's State Tournament that will be held in Sylvania, OH March 1-3.

"This is the largest number of state qualifiers in one season of Mason's 17-year team history!" shared MHS English teacher and Speech & Debate Team Head Coach Melissa Donahue.

MHS OSDA State Qualifiers include the following students:
Declamation: Prathamesh Chati, Mira Krishnan, Rhea Mehta, Priyanka Paradkar
Duo Interpretation: Vibha Ramesh and Abha Upadhye, Juhi Rai and Ayushe Nagpal
Humorous Interpretation: Ananya Bhavanishankar
Informative Speaking: Alishaan Ali, Arnav Divekar, Rishi Mehta, Avi Parshionikar
US Extemporaneous Speaking: Vidhan Bhardwaj, Musa Khan, Mallika Madugula
International Extemporaneous Speaking: Seth Gerus, Aditi Rajgopal, Kash Reddy, Naren Singh
Original Oratory: Amanda Harper, Shriya Penmetsa, Julanna Zhang
Lincoln-Douglas Debate: Vinamra Agrawal, Sanjana Are, Ria Narang, Karishma Ponkshe
Public Forum Debate: Atneya Nair and Rahul Ramesh, Sasmit Pradhan and Hannah McCollough, Megan Cui and Anagh Kulkarni, Trenton Borders and Rishav Mukherjee
Student Congress: Saagar Chokshi, Tristan Groenewold, Suraj Komatineni, Eric Sun

In addition, team members also competed at the Western Ohio District Tournament on February 16-18 at Beavercreek High School. Competitors and alternates then qualified for this year's National Speech and Debate Association's National Tournament in Ft. Lauderdale, FLJune 17-22. Mason also placed first overall in Speech Team Sweepstakes. Results include:

National Qualifiers
First Place in Informative Speaking - Arnav Divekar
First Place in US Extemporaneous Speaking - Musa Khan
First Place in Informative Speaking - Rishi Mehta
First Place in Original Oratory - Shriya Penmetsa

First Alternates to Nationals
Third Place in International Extemporaneous Speaking - Aditi Rajgopal
Third Place in Public Forum Debate - Trenton Borders and Rishav Mukherjee

2nd Alternates to Nationals
Fourth Place in Informative Speaking - Avi Parshionikar
Fourth Place in US Extemporaneous Speaking  - Vidhan Bhardwaj

Finalists
Fifth Place in US Extemporaneous Speaking - Mallika Madugula
Fifth Place in Original Oratory - Julanna Zhang
Sixth Place in Humorous Interpretation - Ananya Bhavanishankar

The MHS Speech & Debate Team is coached by Head Coach Donahue, Assistant Coach Bruce Harris, and Volunteer Assistant Coach Sunayna Ponkshe.