Main

Crusader Invitational
October 23rd-24th, 2026
at St. Mary’s School

We are excited to welcome you to a speech and debate tournament to be held at St. Mary’s School on Friday, October 23rd, and Saturday, October 24th.

Registration

All registration will be online at www.tabroom.com. The deadline for adds/drops is Wednesday, October 21st, at 8 PM. If you need to make changes after that time, please email mbruins@smschool.us with your team, the name of the student, and the event. You should also notify staff at the registration table of any further drops or changes.

Events
We will offer both novice and varsity (open) divisions in most events, assuming that there are a sufficient number of entries. If there are too few entries in an event, divisions may be collapsed. All Pattern A events will be single division. Students may double enter in speech events (except Extemp) in any pattern but cannot double enter in any round in which they are entered in debate. SPAR is considered a speech event.

Pattern A (Friday): Big Questions/Congress/SPAR/Impromptu Duo

Pattern B: Policy/LD/Public Forum/Parli/Extemp

Pattern C: Poetry/Prose/Duo/HI/DI/POI/Oratory/Inform/ADS/Radio/Impromptu/LIELL

We will follow NSDA guidelines for Big Questions and OSAA guidelines for all other events. SPAR rules can be found here. Impromptu Duo rules can be found here. Debate topics will be the same for the novice and open divisions.

Policy: The United States federal government should establish national health insurance in the United States.

Lincoln-Douglas: Outer space colonization is a moral imperative.

Public Forum: The United States federal government should enact a moratorium on hyperscale data center construction.

Big Questions: Technological progress has surpassed humanity’s ability to use it ethically.

Congress will feature the October NSDA bill packet. Teams may submit additional student-authored bills by Monday, October 19th, at 6 PM. Please e-mail bills to mbruins@smschool.us. The entire legislative packet will be posted to Tabroom on Tuesday, October 20th.

Tournament Fees

The entry fee for each school is $30. Fees are $8 per speech event and $10 per debate event. Uncovered judging obligations will incur a $30 nuisance fee.

Judge Coverage

Schools should provide at least one judge for every two debate teams and one judge for every five IE entries. We need your help to provide our students the best feedback possible. If we are short on judges, SMS varsity team members may join novice judging panels. We will provide judges with meals and snacks.

We will use all online ballots through Tabroom. Please make sure judges have linked Tabroom accounts and bring smart devices.

Schedule

FRIDAY

Registration/ Judge Training 4 PM

Congress Rd 1 4:30-6:15 PM

Pattern A Rd 1 4:45-5:45 PM

Pattern A Rd 2 6:15-7:15 PM

Congress Rd 2 6:45-8:30 PM

Pattern A Rd 3 7:15-8:15 PM

SATURDAY

7:30am: Registration
8:00am: Judge Training

(Rd. 1 Extemp Prep 8:30 AM)
Pattern B Rd 1 8:30-10:00 AM
Pattern C Rd 1 10:00-11:00 AM

(Rd. 2 Extemp Prep 11:00 AM)
Pattern B Rd 2 11:00-12:30 PM
Lunch Break 12:30-1:00 PM
Pattern C Rd 2 1:00-2:00 PM

(Rd. 2 Extemp Prep 2:00 PM)
Pattern B Rd 3 2:00-3:30 PM
Pattern C Rd 3 3:30-4:30 PM
Semifinals/Finals 4:30-6:00 PM
Finals 6:00-7:30 PM
SPAR Finals/Awards 7:30 PM

** We will run rounds earlier if possible. Final rounds will be rolled out as we have judges available. Thank you—we’re looking forward to an awesome tournament!