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SVFL Debate State Qualification Tournament — Entry & Competition Rules

Welcome to the official information page for schools entering students into the SVFL Debate State Qualification Tournament. Please review all rules and expectations carefully before submitting entries.

Entry Rules

Open Entry (With Caps)

• Schools may enter up to 7 entries per event.
• We have the following number of Qualifiers:
• Policy Debate – 7 qualifiers
• Lincoln-Douglas (LD) – 6 qualifiers
• Public Forum (PF) – 6 qualifiers
• Parliamentary Debate (Parli) – 6 qualifiers

Commitment Requirement

• All entries must be students who are fully committed to attending the CHSSA State Tournament, held April 17–19.
• Please verify student availability before submitting entries.

Tournament Structure

Schedule

• We are restoring two Friday rounds. To be held on Tabroom.
• Saturday will include a full four rounds (if needed), with the option for additional rounds if necessary to determine qualifiers.

Double Elimination Format

• The tournament remains double elimination.
• Two losses = elimination from the qualification process.
• Rounds continue until the required number of qualifiers for each event is achieved.

Tie-Break Procedures

Primary Tie-Break: League Rank

• The first tie-break is the league rank (formerly the seed).
• KRFL and Redwood League presidents must submit their league rankings no later than one week prior to Round 1 of the SVFL qualification tournament. Rankings must be final at the time of submission.

Reminder: Under the previous system, league rank determined both pairings and tie-breaks. The same principle continues here.

If League Rank Is Tied

If two entries share the same league rank, the following tie-breaks will be applied in order:

1. Record within same bracket
• Head-to-head (counting wins only)
2. Record versus higher brackets
3. Record versus lower brackets
4. Greatest number of win ballots
• Only applies if ballot counts are equal
5. Blind draw
• Used only if all other tie-breaks fail

* all entries will be ranked using this system in order to provide alternates*