Program Strength | Quarry Lane Speech/Debate

Quarry Lane also has substantial success for students who are nationally competitive in their event. We regularly have students qualify for and succeed in the two most prestigious “end of the year” tournaments in the nation: the National Speech & Debate Association’s Nationals (“NSDA”) and the University of Kentucky’s Tournament of Champions (“TOC”). Roughly 66,000 students across all events compete in national circuit tournaments during the year, and around a little over a thousand qualify for NSDA or TOC Nationals.

High School Nationals

Year	Qualifiers¹	Events	National Awards²
2015-6	1	Dramatic Interpretation	23rd (TOC - DI)
2016-7	1	Public Forum	-
2017-8	6	Public Forum (x3), Lincoln Douglas, Humorous Interpretation, Oratorical Interpretation	9th (T) (TOC - PF Gold), 17th (T) (TOC - LD), 13th Speaker (TOC - LD)
2018-9	5	Public Forum (x2), Lincoln Douglas (x2), Dramatic Interpretation	17th Speaker (TOC - LD)
2019-20 (Online)	9	Congress, Public Forum, Lincoln Douglas (x3), Dramatic Interpretation (x2), Duo Interpretation, Original Oratory	9th Speaker (TOC - LD), 11th (NSDA - DI)
2020-21 (Online)	12	Congress (x2), Public Forum (x4), Lincoln Douglas, Dramatic Interpretation (x2), Informative Speaking, Original Oratory (x2)	33rd (T) (TOC - PF Silver), 58th (TOC - Congress), 15th (T) (TOC - DI), 33rd (T) (TOC - OO), 19th (T) (NSDA - PF), 15th (T) (NSDA - DI)
2021 22 (Online)	7	Congress(x2), Public Forum (x2), Humorous Interpretation	17th (T) (TOC - PF Gold)
2022-23	11	Public Forum (x4), Dramatic Interpretation, Humorous Interpretation, Extemporaneous Speaking	9th (T) (TOC - PF Gold), 17th Speaker (TOC - PF Gold)

Middle School Nationals

Year	Students	Events	National Awards²
2020-21 (Online)	22	Public Forum (x7), Dramatic Interpretation (x4), Humorous Intrepretation (x4), Extemporaneous Speaking, Impromptu Speaking (x3)	N/A
2021-22 (Online)	30	Policy, Public Forum (x9), Dramatic Interpretation (x5), Humorous Interpretation (x3), Impromptu Speaking (x4)	2nd (MS TOC - Policy), 33rd (T) (MS TOC - PF), 6th (MS TOC - DI), 12th (MS TOC - HI), 18th (MS TOC - Imp)
2022-23	10	Policy (x2), Public Forum (x2)	3rd (T) (MS TOC - Policy), 5th (T) (MS TOC - Policy)

Year

Students

Events

National Awards²

2020-21

(Online)

Public Forum (x7), Dramatic Interpretation (x4), Humorous Intrepretation (x4), Extemporaneous Speaking, Impromptu Speaking (x3)

N/A

2021-22

(Online)

Policy, Public Forum (x9), Dramatic Interpretation (x5), Humorous Interpretation (x3), Impromptu Speaking (x4)

2nd (MS TOC - Policy),
33rd (T) (MS TOC - PF),
6th (MS TOC - DI),
12th (MS TOC - HI),
18th (MS TOC - Imp)

2022-23

Policy (x2), Public Forum (x2)

3rd (T) (MS TOC - Policy),
5th (T) (MS TOC - Policy)

¹ Qualifiers measure the number of entries Quarry Lane qualifies to either NSDA Nationals or the TOC. A team of two students counts as one qualifier, just as a team of one student counts as one qualifier. It excludes participants in NSDA National’s supplemental events (since they are optional and non-qualification based). It includes teams that qualify but choose or are unable to attend.

² Awards measure a recognized achievement by the NSDA or TOC. Debate students are eligible for both elimination round placement awards and prelimination rounds speaker awards. Speech students are eligible only for elimination round awards.