The district speech and debate tournament is underway, and the Cleveland Cannibals are approaching their annual district event as a way to qualify as many students for state as they can.

This major tournament, which began Wednesday, April 5, consists of six schools, and with 133 entries, makes this the biggest district tournament since 1994, according to head coach Patrick “Gonzo” Gonzales.

Gonzales has run Cleveland’s speech and debate classes for 13 years. The defending state champions, the Cannibals have seen success throughout the year in all types of competitions. As Cleveland prepares for the upcoming tournaments, The Clarion reached out to Gonzales to check up on the team and see what they are looking forward to in the upcoming months.

How is the team doing?

“We have had a fantastic year. We came off the state championship from last year a huge program; this year, we continue to do well. We have gone to 12 tournaments, and have won the overall sweepstakes at 10 of them. Sunset has one and Westview has one. What’s interesting about Cleveland, Sunset, and Westview is that those three schools are the last three state champions. So that’s what it’s going to look like at state, I think, in the end; maybe put Lincoln in there as well. But I like where we’re at. Among other things, I’m really happy with our ninth and tenth-grade group. We have a really strong senior team for districts and all that, but we’re just going to be so loaded next year and the year after that. I don’t think anybody’s going to beat us.”

What events does the team usually do best in?

“We have a couple of strong areas that are, essentially, based on cultures that we have. So we are strong in parliamentary debate because students enjoy parli–that joy becomes tournaments and the tournaments become the rounds, and they get good. Then they go to varsity, and they turn around and teach novice kids in parliamentary debate. We’re very deep in informative speaking, we have the number one speaker in the state: Stella Greenvoss. When she graduates, the number one, two, and three speakers in the state are all going to be sophomores at Cleveland High School. So we’re very deep in that. We’ve always had a strong public forum culture. We have seven state titles, and I think that in the last 12 years or so we have done very well. We have a couple of really good teams.”

All right, the national qualifiers just happened. How did the team do?

“In our North Oregon district, it is very difficult to make it to Nationals, which this summer is in Phoenix, Arizona. It’s the kind of event where you might have 17 to 28 kids competing for two spots to go to Nationals. So it’s very difficult. But we had the best showing we’ve had since 2013. So we’ve qualified a bunch of kids and have a bunch of alternates. So we’re sending Xanthe Rollins and Kaylee Ho in a public forum debate. They won the national qualifying tournament. They beat the number one kid from Westview High School to do that. So they’re going to Phoenix and Westview is staying home.”

The Clarion spoke to juniors Xanthe Rollins and Kaylee Ho about their remarkable performance at the National Qualifying Tournament. Rollins and Ho compete together as partners in public forum debate which is an evidence-based debate that covers current events and issues. The topic Rollins and Ho debated was “Resolved: The Republic of India should sign the Artemis Accords.”

So, you both qualified to attend Nationals, what does that mean?

Rollins: “Going to Phoenix with Gonzo and the team, which will be really interesting!”

What do you guys like about the speech and debate team?

Rollins: “It’s really good community bonding and you learn a lot. You get so much time spent at tournaments with all the other people. Regarding the topic, I would never know what the impact of the Artemis Accords is and now I’m more knowledgeable.”

Ho: “Yeah, you got really good at researching and writing argumentative-style mini-essays. You also get to talk to interesting people that you would usually not meet.”

Rollins and Ho wanted to encourage incoming Cleveland students to forecast for speech and debate. “We need new people to join and be trained, it’s really fun. You get awards, you get to spend time competing. It’s a really great learning experience and you get bragging rights.”

Cleveland has sent a lot of esteemed students to nationals under coach Gonzales. A few other students will be joining Rollins and Ho in Phoenix, Gonzales said.

“We have one of the top humorous interpretation speakers–one of our acting events–Quinn (Keogh). He finished first and he’s heading on his way. Then, we had four people selected for the world’s debate team. This was selected strictly by the coaches in North Oregon. So there’s no competition, you just went on who you are, how well you’ve done, and your credibility in the state. So we have Xander Bartlett who will be on the world’s team. He’s also the alternate for big questions debate. We have Andrew Applebaum on the world’s team. He’s also an alternate and LD debate. There is also Alvin Chan and Liam Taylor. The coaches saw the team’s potential and so they’re heading off and they’re going to be coached by former Cleveland student Terrell Cunningham, who’s a two-time public forum state champion, and myself. It’ll be a lot of fun.

We know that districts are coming up. How is preparation for that going?

“It’s one of the biggest tournaments since 1994. We have won the district title for 13 in the last 14 years, so we’re just bigger, deeper, and better. However the other teams are closing the gap,” Gonzales said. “McDaniel, Roosevelt, and Franklin all have strengths they are bringing to the table. So it’s going to be tough. Our goal is to try to get as many kids in the top two or three because then they enter the state tournament. And that’s really what this is. It’s a clearing house for the state tournament. And so we’re trying to gain between 20 and 25 spots to stay. That’s going to be tough, but we are ready.”