Magnolia District Qualifier

for the 2026 National Tournament

9. Breaks, Elims, Qualifiers

• Five prelim rounds will be held.

• This is more than the minimum required, but is what we’re already used to for MHSAA tournaments. It also gives every team a clear winning or losing record at the end of prelims.

• We’ll aim to get 4 prelims in on Friday, with the 5th Saturday morning, but if we can squeeze in 5 on Friday, all the better. (We are not allowed to start any round after 9:30pm.)

• We will advance all debaters with a winning record (3-2 or better)

• This gives the maximum number possible the chance to compete in elim rounds, and remains consistent with MHSAA practices.

• In a large field this may mean a partial octa-final round, if necessary. In a smaller field, it may mean a partial quarter or even straight-to-semis.

• We will use a single-elimination bracket for elimination rounds.

• This keeps the tournament consistent with MSHAA practices, making it predictable and easily understandable for debaters and coaches. A double-elimination bracket would lengthen the tournament significantly. With single-elims, even if the 4th or 5th prelim ends up on Saturday, we should still wrap up at a reasonable time Saturday afternoon.

• We won’t actually need a final round, since (at least) the top two in each event will be qualifiers. There will be no need to distinguish between 1st and 2nd place.

• The order of alternates will be determined by using records in elimination rounds, then preliminary seedings. (i.e. We will not hold run-offs)

• Further explanation: assuming two qualifiers, the winners of the two semifinal rounds would qualify. The losers of the two semifinal rounds would have the same elim record, so who comes first in the alternate list will be determined by their prelim seeding. (But an entry that was knocked out in quarterfinals will always be below an entry that was knocked out in semifinals, regardless of prelim seeding.)

• There will be no elimination round unless an unbreakable tie somehow exists after the Round Robin (which is unlikely since the tie should be broken by the head-to-head debate that would have already happened).

• There is no chance of a Round Robin in Big Questions, since we are required to have 10 entries to hold a Big Questions qualifier.

We have to hold three prelim rounds in every event. It is unlikely that we’ll have to hold more than 5 total rounds in any event (prelims, semis, finals)

• Events with 7 or fewer entries will stop after 3 prelims

• Events with 8-15 entries, top 6 advance to a single final round after 3 prelims.

• Events with 16-30 entries, top 12 advance to two-panel semifinals after 3 prelims.

• Events with 31-45 entries, top 18 advance to a three-panel semifinals after 3 prelims.

(All of this falls well within the NSDA baseline requirement to advance at least 25% from prelims.)

In all Speech & Debate events except Big Questions, our district will have 2 national qualifiers, unless…

1. There are fewer than 4 entries in an event. Then we do not get to hold the event and we have no national qualifiers.

2. There are 30 or more entries in an event. Then we get 3 national qualifiers in that event.

3. There are 50 or more entries in an event. Then we get 4 national qualifiers in that event.

In Big Questions, there must be at least 10 entries to get 2 national qualifiers. If fewer than 10 enter, we get no national qualifiers. We cannot get more than 2 national qualifiers in Big Questions.