Two local high school debate teams take top spots at national tournament

Rett Nelson, EastIdahoNews.com

Left: Group of local students who placed second at the national debate tournament. Right: Group of local students who placed fifth. | Courtesy Joseph Tyler

IDAHO FALLS – A group of high school students returned from a national speech and debate tournament last week, where they made Idaho history.

Two teams of five students from various eastern Idaho high schools were among 6,700 students nationwide who participated in the weeklong event in Des Moines, Iowa. One team placed second overall, and the other placed fifth.

Century High School’s head speech and debate coach, Joseph Tyler, was recently elected chairman of the Idaho Mountain River District, which oversees and forms the student teams in our region. He and Highland High School’s Jett Smith coached both these teams. They’ve been working with these students for months and they’re thrilled to see students from Idaho win a major award at a national tournament for the first time ever.

“This event has been going on for 100 years. This has never happened in the history of Idaho’s participation at this tournament,” Tyler tells EastIdahoNews.com. “We’re really pleased to see all their hard work and dedication pay off in such a significant way.”

There were a number of other local students who also took home awards. The final results from the National Speech and Debate Association show a team from China took first place. A team from Montana was a quarter-finalist in the tournament.

Local students who participated and won awards in the national debate tournament. | Courtesy Joseph Tyler

Results from the 2025 National Speech and Debate Tournament | Screenshot from website

Madilynn Evans was on the team that placed second. She just graduated from Madison High School in Rexburg and has been involved in speech and debate since her freshman year.

Making it to the final stage is never something she thought would happen.

“I always had this mentality that the goal was just to make it to nationals. Once you made it to nationals, (it felt) impossible to get anywhere. It’s a super hard competition, and everyone there is super talented. I never thought it was something I’d be able to accomplish,” Evans says.

The fact that no one from Idaho has ever accomplished this “is absolutely crazy” to her.

As Evan looks back on how she got started in debate, she says she initially enrolled because it sounded like a fun way to fulfill a graduation requirement. She enjoyed the intellectual and social aspects and soon discovered that participants were required to compete in a tournament. She and her competitor “did really well” that first year, and she was hooked.

Evans says participating in speech and debate has greatly improved her analytical and public speaking skills.

The topic Evans and her team were assigned for the final debate was “This house regrets the alliance on regional security alliances.” Regional security alliances, according to a leading science and healthcare platform, are a cooperative agreement between two or more countries aimed at improving security and stability. NATO is one example of a regional security alliance.

Evans knew almost nothing about this topic when it was assigned. She and her teammates presented the opposing side of this argument without much advanced notice. It was one of four topics they were given earlier in the tournament, but never had a chance to debate.

“If it had been just an hour before the debate (the amount of notice they were given for some of the debates), it would’ve been a lot more intimidating. We spent the entire night before the final rounds preparing for it, so it didn’t feel too scary,” says Evans.

Maleah Dilworth, who just graduated from Soda Springs High School, competed on the team that placed fifth. Their assigned topic was “This house would ban countries that systematically violate human rights from hosting world sporting events.” They were also on the opposing side of the argument, meaning they had to argue why these countries should not be banned.

Like Evans, Dilworth had little advanced warning or knowledge of the topic. Placing fifth on the national stage was “a great way to end high school debate.”

Maleah Dilworth, left, practicing for a debate with a teammate. | Courtesy Maleah Dilworth

Although Dilworth will miss all the weekends she spent with friends and coaches on the debate team, she’s considering participating in college debate.

Dilworth plans to attend Idaho State University in Pocatello and double major in political science and social work. Her ultimate goal is to go to law school and become an attorney.

Evans plans to attend Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, and major in psychology.

As Evans prepares for the next stage of her life, she expresses gratitude to her coaches for making the debate team such a rewarding experience.

“Without our speech and debate coaches, us students wouldn’t be able to do much. We owe a lot of (our success) to them,” she says.

Tyler says each team advanced far enough to automatically qualify for next year’s national tournament. The exit of two seniors from each team leaves open space for new students.

Their performance at the national tournament earned them the right to bring two additional teams next year. Tyler is excited to take 14 new students to the national debate in 2026.

“We will be sending four teams to (the national tournament next year), which is the most out of any district in the nation,” Tyler says.