Rock Bridge Invitational

Speech and Debate

February 17 - 18, 2017
Dear Speech and Debate Coaches and Squads:
On behalf of the RBHS Speech and Debate Team, we would like to cordially invite you to attend the
Rock Bridge Invitational, which will be held at Rock Bridge High School in Columbia, MO on
February 17-18, 2017.
The tournament will include full speech and debate tournaments and will feature some of the best
competition from the region. Please note the following guidelines for the tournament.

The tournament offers the following events: Extemporaneous Speaking (combined), Original
Oratory, Dramatic Interpretation, Humorous Interpretation, Duet Acting, Program Oral
Interpretation, Informative Speaking, Prose, Poetry, Radio Speaking, Storytelling, Policy
Debate, Lincoln Douglas Debate, Public Forum Debate.
All events are open; there will be no varsity/novice division in any event.
Students may enter, AT MOST, two speech events and one debate event. Competitors found
to have violated this rule are subject to disqualification from the tournament.
We ask that each school bring one qualified, adult judge to each day of the tournament in
which their school is competing. A coach could fill this role. We will attempt to fill spots with
community members before asking for judges from schools.
The tournament will follow MSHSAA guidelines for all speech and debate events, and will
follow NSDA guidelines for Program Oral Interpretation and Informative Speaking.
We will use the MSHSAA resolutions for February in Lincoln-Douglas Debate and Public
Forum Debate. We will use the 2015-2016 NSDA resolution in Policy Debate: The United
States federal government should substantially increase its economic and/or diplomatic
engagement with the Peoples Republic of China.
Each school is allowed 3 entries in each event. Extra entries will be granted as space allows.
No school may use the same individual event/speech piece in more than one event.
Competitors found to have violated this rule are subject to disqualification from the
tournament.
We reserve the right to collapse events and modify tournament structure as necessary. For
example, we may opt for a third preliminary round in speech events in lieu of a semifinal
round due to event size. We will notify coaches of all such changes.

The entry deadline is Friday, February 10th at 4:30 p.m. Drops can be made without penalty until
Wednesday, February 15th at 4:30 pm.
Please reach out to Nick Benham (nbenham@cpsk12.org) if you have any questions or would
like more information.
We look forward to seeing you in Columbia!
Sonya Hu and Joshua Vincent
Tournament Co-Chairs

Ben Niewoehner
RBHS Speech and Debate Coach

Nick Benham
Assistant Coach

Tournament Schedule
Registration in the front commons
Friday, February 17
2:00-3:00
3:00
4:30
6:00
7:30

Debate Registration
Round 1 Debate
Round 2 Debate
Round 3 Debate
Round 4 Debate

NOTE: We will FLIGHT the first 3 rounds of Debate and try to single flight the 4 th round to end
earlier. If we are able to get the number of needed judges, we will attempt to single flight as many
rounds as possible. You will be notified if the schedule changes.
Saturday, February 18
7:30-8:00 AM
IE Registration
8:00
Extemp Draw
8:30
Round 1 IEs
9:30
Extemp Draw
10:00
Round 2 IEs
11:30
Debate Quarter Finals
1:00
Extemp Draw
1:30
Semi Finals IEs
3:30
Extemp Draw
4:00
Finals IEs
5:30
Awards Assembly
Semifinals and finals for Debate will begin immediately following Awards.

Sweepstakes
Sweepstakes points will be awarded as follows:
Events:
Semifinals Break: 5 points
Finals Break: 10 points
3rd Place: 5 points
2nd Place: 10 points
1st Place: 15 points

Debate:
Preliminary Win: 5 points
Quarterfinals Break: 10 points
Semifinals Break: 10 points

The top 12-15 entries in each speech event will advance to semifinals

The top 6 entries in semifinals will advance to finals

The top 8 entries in each debate event will advance to quarterfinals
We will award trophies for 1st-3rd place, and medals for 4th-6th place in events
We will award trophies to semifinalists and finalists, and medals to quarterfinalists in debate
events

Rock Bridge Invitational

February 17 - 18, 2017
School: _______________________________________________________________________
Coach(es): _____________________________________________________________________
Coach(es) email: ________________________________________________________________
Coach(es) cell: __________________________________________________________________
Individual Events
Prose
Poetry
Dramatic Interpretation
Humorous Interpretation
Duet Acting
Storytelling
Original Oratory
Extemporaneous Speaking
Radio Speaking
Program Oral Interpretation
Informative Speaking
Debate
Lincoln Douglas
Public Forum
Policy

# of entries______
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# of entries______
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# of entries______
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TOTAL NUMBER Single Competitor ENTRIES _________ X $7.00 PER ENTRY =

$ ______________
TOTAL NUMBER Team Competitor ENTRIES _________ X $12.00 PER ENTRY =
$ ______________
(Duet, Policy, Public Forum)
TOTAL = $ _______________
SEND ENTRIES TO:

Nick Benham
Rock Bridge High School
4303 S. Providence Road
Columbia, MO 65203

nbenham@cpsk12.org
(417) 559-5139 cell
(573) 214-3109 FAX
Note: The deadline to enter is Friday, February 10th. Coaches may drop an event without penalty
up until Wednesday, February 15th.