Mankato Speech and Debate Team

04/13/2026

Come check out 2026 Showcase! Starting at 5:00PM!
Lineup:
Sebastian-Poetry
Joey-Impromptu
Samera-Prose
Kennedy and Sydney-Duo
Intermission (10 Minutes)
Ali vs Eli IPDA Debate

10/01/2025

Hello all! Mankato Speech and Debate is hosting our home tournament October 17-19th this year! We are calling Alumni and those in the surrounding areas, as we are looking for judges. Below is a link to sign up and learn more information. Thanks! P.S. We will provide food and pay you for your time!

Hi all! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR HELP! The KATO swing is one of those tournaments where the assistance of our hired judging staff will be crucial to a successful tournament! If you would like any event refreshers or judging training/information, please do not hesitate to reach out: manuel.reyes.2@...

09/22/2025

For the team member this week, we have Samera, who's a senior on the team this year!

09/11/2025

Going on the tradition of posting a team member every week, allow me to introduce Micah, who is our Co-Chair (like a Vice President)!

09/03/2025

As we are back in school, we want to introduce our team, returners, and new people every week! The first up is our chair (similar to the team president), Sydney Hawkins!

02/01/2025

The Mavs are having a blast at the Icebox Classic tournament at St Cloud State University!

So far, we know that our Parliamentary Debate team of River Repinski and Sebastian Emeline have advanced to the final round! More results to come this afternoon 😁

MMaverick Forensics Alumni Network (MavFAN)CCommunication and Media I Minnesota State University, Mankato

11/22/2024

The Mavericks were busy last week. And while we are sorry for the delay, we aren’t sorry to share our results.

On Tuesday (11/12/24), we took four debate teams to the second PLUM tournament, hosted by Bethany Lutheran College. Where two of our teams tied for 3rd place, both receiving Bronze awards in parliamentary debate. Congratulations to Parker Berding / Sneha Kafle and Andrew Haefner / River Repinski. We also took home a couple individual speaker awards: Joey Vobr received 8th place, Sebastian Emeline placed 7th, and Parker Berding won overall individual speaker champion.
But we didn’t stop there. On Friday (11/22/24), we traveled to Moorhead, MN for VFL 1 & 2, hosted by Concordia College. We took eight students, two coaches, and a bunch of new events. Here are the results:

VFL #1:
MNSU - 3rd Overall
Kennedy Hayden - 1st Poetry Interpretation
River Repinski - 2nd Informative Speaking
Micah Allen - 3rd Informative Speaking
Micah Allen - 3rd Poetry Interpretation
Sebastian Emeline - 4th Program Oral Interpretation
Sebastian Emeline - 5th Dramatic Interpretation
Sydney Hawkins - 6th Impromptu Speaking
Sydney Hawkins - 6th Program Oral Interpretation

VFL #2:
Kennedy Hayden - 1st Poetry Interpretation
Micah Allen - 2nd Poetry Interpretation
River Repinski - 5th Informative Speaking
Sebastian Emeline - 5th Dramatic Interpretation
Sydney Hawkins - 5th Program Oral Interpretation
Micah Allen - 6th Informative Speaking
Andrew Haefner and River Repinski - Quarter Finalists Parliamentary Debate.

We are so proud of our competitors and the hard work they put into their events. Special thank you to Bethany Lutheran and Concordia College again for hosting us! We look forward to seeing everyone in the Spring.

11/05/2024

The Maverick's competed in the Vocal Viking at Bethany Lutheran College. We had a great weekend full of pumpkin carving, debating and forensicating. The Maverick's placed 3rd overall. Check out the video below for individual results! Thank you to the Bethany team for hosting!

11/02/2024

Shout out to River (DI, Extemp) and Sebastian (PRO) for breaking their individual events to finals!

11/02/2024

Congrats to Sydney and Parker for breaking quarters in Parliamentary debate at the Vocal Viking!

10/21/2024

The Maverick's had a great showing at the Kato Swing this weekend! Our first year students had the opportunity to compete Day one at the Super Schnoor and River took 2nd in IPDA and was 6th speaker. Kennedy got third in Drama, Micah got 4th in Informative and Joey received 4th in Impromptu. Day two everyone got involved and Kennedy won 2nd in Drama, Micah got 2nd in Informative and Sydney took 4th in impromptu. Sebastian got 2nd in Poetry and 4th in Extemp speaking. Overall it was an excellent weekend! Thank you to everyone who came and our amazing Alumni for helping host the second day.

10/16/2024

At yesterday's PLUM tournament, the Mavericks demonstrated exceptional skill. Notable finishes included Parker Berding in 10th, Sebastian Emeline in 9th, and River Repinski in 8th for Speaker. Parker Berding and Sebastian Emeline tied for 3rd, securing Bronze. Thank you Bethany Lutheran College for hosting.