Important - if you are attending from outside the state of Kansas, you MUST email the tournament contact by noon on September 1st. If you are at all considering attending, even if you don't know for sure yet, please send an email. 

Wichita East Blue Ace Invitational – 2022

You are invited to attend the Wichita East Blue Ace invitational, hosted by Wichita East High School on October 7-8, 2022. We will be hosting a 2 day, 5-round prelim tournament with elimination rounds up to full octofinals in 3 divisions (Novice Champ, JV and DCI) and a 4-round prelim tournament with no elimination rounds on October 8^th for the other 2 divisions (Novice Caselist and KDC). Students must be representing an accredited and legitimate high school: no independent entries are allowed. If your school is interested in attending from state other than Kansas, please contact tournament staff ASAP to ensure eligibility. All Kansas high schools approved to compete by KSHSAA are eligible to enter.

There will be a tournament wide entry cap that is TBD depending on room availability (An update will be posted). Until that cap is hit, we will tentatively limit teams to 6 overall entries (with a division specific cap of 4), with remaining teams added to a waitlist. We do anticipate having a significant amount of room, but due to construction and repair on the building’s science wing, some rooms we would normally have access to are unavailable. We ultimately have more space than last year but anticipate more demand. Last year we were able to clear the entire waitlist. Registration will be open on tabroom (blueace.tabroom.com) on September 9^th and closes on September 30^th.

Enter through the Main Entrance which is located on the South Side of the building. We should have people there to greet you and direct you to your school room. Signs will also be posted to separate the scholars bowl and debate tournaments. In addition to checking in, use the onsite registration on tabroom once you have confirmed your entries.

We are excited to host as many of you as possible this year.

Parker Mitchell

Debate/Forensics/Speech Wichita High School East

Divisions

Novice Caselist

The novice caselist division is restricted to debaters in their first year of competition. Debaters must compete in a partnership unless one student was forced to leave during the tournament by unforeseen circumstances. Mavericks continuing to compete will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

We expect the judge pool to be primarily made up of volunteer/parent judges. Judges will likely have a lay or traditional outlook on debate and students should prepare accordingly. This is not a guarantee or assurance of style or content of argumentation. If you have interested advanced debater volunteers, they are permitted to judge in this division.

The novice caselist division will use the NDCA evidence packet. You may not change plan texts or mix and match evidence from different files to create new positions not already in the packet. Questions of evidence packet violations should not be adjudicated by the judge who likely has little knowledge of what actually is in the packet – please bring these questions to Mr. Mitchell and do not legislate them in the debate.

The top 6 teams and top 6 speakers will be honored in novice caselist. There will be 4 debates on Saturday only, delay powered in rounds 3 and 4.

Novice Champ

The novice champ division is restricted to debaters in their first year of competition. Debaters must compete in a partnership unless one student was forced to leave during the tournament by unforeseen circumstances. Mavericks continuing to compete will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

The novice champ division will not be limited to the evidence packet. This division is intended for novices who would like an extra challenge, quality judging and a 2-day tournament format. For this division, we will prioritize judges with experience in debate. This is not a guarantee or assurance of style or content of argumentation. To ensure quality judging, for every 2 entries or fraction, provide one judge for this division. Advanced debaters are permitted to judge in this division and can serve to cover your judge obligation in novice only, advanced debaters cannot cover entries in DCI or JV.

The top 6 speakers will be honored in novice champ. There will be 5 prelim debates followed elimination rounds featuring all winning records up to full octofinals advancing. Octofinalists will not receive a medal but may receive a substitute award handed out in the room. Students advancing to quarterfinals and beyond will receive a medal. Although we hope to avoid this, this division may be collapsed with JV (to form a full JV division) if there is a lack of interest.

JV

The JV division is restricted to debaters in their first and second years of competition. Debaters must compete in a partnership unless one student was forced to leave during the tournament by unforeseen circumstances. Mavericks continuing to compete will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

For this division, we will prioritize judges with experience in debate. This is not a guarantee or assurance of style or content of argumentation. To ensure quality judging, for every 2 entries or fraction, provide one judge for this division.

The top 6 speakers will be honored in JV. There will be 5 prelim debates followed by elimination rounds featuring all winning records up to full octofinals advancing. Octofinalists will not receive a medal but may receive a substitute award handed out in the room. Students advancing to quarterfinals and beyond will receive a medal. Although we hope to avoid this, this division may be collapsed with novice champ (to form a full JV division) if there is a lack of interest.

KDC/Open

The KDC/Open division will be open to debaters of all skill levels and experience.

We expect the judge pool to be primarily made up of volunteer/parent judges. Judges will likely have a lay or traditional outlook on debate and students should prepare accordingly. This is not a guarantee or assurance of style or content of argumentation and judging pools could be mixed depending on availability.

Debaters must compete in a partnership unless one student was forced to leave during the tournament by unforeseen circumstances. Mavericks continuing to compete will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

The top 6 teams and top 6 speakers will be honored in Open. T There will be 4 debates on Saturday only, delay powered in rounds 3 and 4.

DCI

The DCI/Varsity division will be open to debaters of all skill levels and experience. This division will award bids to the Debate Coaches Invitational for eligible advancing entries up to the maximum level.

For this division, we will prioritize judges with experience in debate. This is not a guarantee or assurance of style or content of argumentation and judging pools could be mixed depending on availability.

Debaters must compete in a partnership unless one student was forced to leave during the tournament by unforeseen circumstances. Maverick competition is subject to DCI rules.

The top 6 speakers will be honored in novice champ. There will be 5 prelim debates followed by up to full octofinals with all winning records advancing. Octofinalists will not receive a medal but may receive a substitute award handed out in the room. Students advancing to quarterfinals and beyond will receive a medal.

 Sweeps

Sweeps will be calculated from the prelim records of a school’s top 6 entries across all divisions. No more than 4 per division will count towards sweeps. To normalize round count, Round 5 of DCI/JV/NoCh will not count towards sweeps. The top 3 schools will be honored.

Fees

Tournament fees are $6 per entry in all divisions. Fee waivers for UDL schools are available upon request. Tabroom will allow you to print invoices for the tournament.

Regulations

KDC and Novice Caselist divisions will have 4 rounds. DCI, JV and Novice Champ divisions will have 5 preliminary rounds. All winning records up to a full octofinal will clear to elimination rounds in DCI, JV and Novice Champ. Speaking times are 8-3-5 with 8 minutes of prep time.

The topic is the 2022-23 NFHS resolution.

Any team more than 10 minutes late to a round through no fault of the tournament will forfeit and receive 0 speaker points and a loss. The winning team will receive a bye. Results for all rounds will be posted on tabroom.com, the tabroom itself will be open. The Tabroom will be located in E301 on Friday and the Library on Saturday.

Evidence misrepresentation is considered cheating and ought to be adjudicated by the judge not tabroom as an apriori ethical issue. The judge should also notify the tabroom and the tournament director that such an issue was raised. Evidence misrepresentation includes – clipping, evidence falsification and evidence cut specifically out of context (strawman arguments). The judge must base their decision on relevant evidence provided by the teams. Please make sure all of your debaters are aware of these expectations. Excessive misrepresentation of evidence (across multiple rounds) may result in expulsion from the tournament at the discretion of the tournament director.  

Spectators are allowed to watch their own schools in preliminary rounds as long as neither team objects. With permission of the judge, tournament and both teams, spectators may also be permitted in prelim rounds they are not competing in. Elimination rounds are open to spectators. Please maintain do not offer any comments during or after the round and be respectful all participants, failure to do so will result in removal from the room. Please let the tournament director know of any spectators at the tournament.

Both divisions will be delay power-matched after 2 preset rounds.

Deadlines

Registration opens – 9/9/2021

New Entries Due – 10/25/2021

Drops/Name Changes due – 10/27/2021

Judging

Some divisions have judging requirements. To ensure experienced judging, please enter 1 judge for every 2 teams (or fraction thereof) in the JV/NoCh/DCI divisions. Each of these judges are expected to be available for prelim rounds, first full elimination round and one round past the elimination of their team.

Schools bringing teams in other divisions (NoCa/KDC) should enter their sponsor as an emergency judge in the “Recruited” section. Please note if your sponsor would either like to judge or only be used in emergencies. If you would prefer to judge a particular division, please note that as well. This request may or may not be honored depending on availability and necessity.

If you have extra coaches or judges that can be entered in the pool, please enter them on tabroom, we would love all the help we can get. 3^rd and 4^th year students may be entered in the pool in either the Provided pool (both days) or the Recruited pool (Saturday only). Student judges must be clearly labeled. They may cover your obligations only in NoCh, they will not be counted towards your obligations in JV or DCI. In the event that JV and NoCh are collapsed, we will not be able to use student judges on Friday. An email will be sent to clarify this after entries have closed.

We will be providing some judges for this tournament. The majority of them will be placed in the Recruited – Open category on Saturday, mostly parents or have less experience judging debates. Some of our recruited judges may be placed in the provided division as well if they have significant experience judging or competing in debates. Judges may be moved between categories if necessary during the tournament, but this will not change their time commitments.

Hospitality and Concessions

We do plan to provide hospitality to judges and coaches. Our parents have provided excellent donations in the past and we will have plenty of vegetarian options.

Concessions/meal deal plans are still in the works. I will send out an email via Tabroom closer to the date with information and it will also be posted on the website.

Schedule

Friday 10/7

2:30-3:00 – Registration

3:00 – Pairings for R1/R2 (DCI/JV/NoCh)

3:30 – Round 1 (DCI/JV/NoCh)

5:15 – Round 2 (DCI/JV/NoCh)

6:45 – Pairings for R3 (DCI/JV/NoCh - Delay Powered off R1)

7:15 – Round 3 (DCI/JV/NoCh)

Saturday 10/8

7:00-7:30 – Registration

7:30 – Pairings for R4 (DCI/JV/NoCh – Delay Powered off R2) and R1/R2 (KDC/NoCa)

8:00 – Round 4 (DCI/JV/NoCh) Round 1 (KDC/NoCa)

9:30 – Pairings for Round 5 (DCI/JV/NoCh – Delay Powered off R3) Round 2 (KDC/NoCa)

9:45 – Round 5 (DCI/JV/NoCh) Round 2 (KDC/NoCa)

11:30 – Lunch

12:00 – Pairings for Elim 1 (DCI/JV/NoCh) and Round 3 (KDC/NoCa)

12:30 – Elim 1 (DCI/JV/NoCh) Round 3 (KDC/NoCa)

2:00 – Pairings for Elim 2 (DCI/JV/NoCh + Bracket Release) and Round 4 (KDC/NoCa)

2:15 – Elim 2 (DCI/JV/NoCh) Round 4 (KDC/NoCa)

4:00/ASAP – Awards – All Divisions

4:30/Immediately Following Awards – Pairings for Elim 3 (if necessary –DCI/JV/NoCh)

15 minutes after pairings (approx. 4:45) – Elim 3 (if necessary – DCI/JV/NoCh)

Elim 4 (if necessary) will follow asap the conclusion of Elim 3.