On Monday, the Cross Examination Debate reached a major goal when all three teams made finals at district competition. The teams when on to take first, thrid, and fourth places. Evan Grisham and Tate Slaughter won first place and will advance to the state competition in March; junior Lilah Adams and freshman Colby Menefee took third and are first state alternates; junior Nadia Garcia and sophomore Andrea Garcia placed fourth and are second state alternates.

“We did a lot better than I thought we would,” Menefee said. “Although I did want to go to state my freshman year, I was very glad to be a part of this, and I am very excited to compete in it again next year.”

Coach Melonie Menefee was excited to see her teams advance, especially since Both Leon and Teague had teams that competed at state last year.

“I knew we had worked hard all year, and I knew our teams were all capable of advancing,” Menefee said. “CX is a tough event, though, and so for all three teams to do such a terrific job on the same day was really exciting.”

The CX teams consisted of both varsity and novice debaters. Slaughter, a novice debater, advanced to the state competition his first year.

“I didn’t know what to expect from this competition,” Slaughter said. “I was so nervous. I knew there were going to be some good teams there, but I honestly did not expect to do as good as we did. I am super excited to compete at state later on in the year.”