Concord High School Speech & Debate Team

06/19/2026

Our 2026 National tournament comes to an end with Kessa placing 7th speaker in LD in the nation. We head home tomorrow morning.

06/19/2026

Just a reminder to tune it to see Kessa receive her top 14 Speaker Award this afternoon after the LD final round which begins at 2:00pm.
Debate and public address speech finals will be streamed all day as well on the same link. Stutzman will be introducing the policy finals at 12:00pm.

Watch livestream coverage of finals and awards from the 2026 National Tournament starting Thursday, June 18!

06/17/2026

Another update from Nationals:

Kessa Krecsmar has earned a spot in the top 14 in Lincoln-Douglas speakers. This award is calculated based on the number of speaker points scored from judges in the preliminary rounds.

She will receive her trophy (and learn her exact placing) on stage after the LD final round at 2:00pm.

For anyone interested, you can watch that final and Kessa receiving her trophy via livestream at

Watch livestream coverage of finals and awards from the 2026 National Tournament starting Thursday, June 18!

06/17/2026

Nationals Update:

Kessa's LD competition comes to an end after round 8. This places here in the top 64 (out of 279 starting).

Today we have 3 of our students competing in supplemental events:

Lizzy Evans in Prose
Jonathan Franco Guzman in Extemp Commentary
Kessa Krecsmar in Commentary and Impromptu.

Our other two World Schools debaters are watching elimination rounds to learn what to do for next season.

Updates will be posted as we know them.

06/16/2026

Kessa Krecsmar makes history by becoming the first LD debater (and third overall Concord student) to break to elimination rounds at the national tournament.
She will compete in two more rounds this afternoon for the opportunity to continue competing tomorrow.

06/14/2026

We have arrived in Richmond. Note—traffic around DC is no joke.
Registration tomorrow and competition starts on Monday. Kessa in LD. Lizzy, Aliah, Paola, and Jonathan in World Schools.

Will try my best to post results as the week progresses.

03/21/2026

Help the team get to Richmond and honor our 70th anniversary as a charter member of the NSDA.

By Concord High School Speech & Debate Team

03/15/2026

Final results:
Jonathan Franco Guzman: Quarterfinalist in International Extemp

Kessa Krecsmar: Semifinalist in Impromptu and U. S. Extemp

Our speech season ends here. But stay tuned for ways to support the team as we prepare for Nationals in June.