Craren, Saunders team up in public forum debate

Brentwood High School seniors Seamus Saunders and Theodora Craren recently finished in the top one-third in public forum debate at the National Speech and Debate Association’s national tournament June 12-17 in Salt Lake City. They advanced to the elimination rounds with a winning record in the preliminaries.

The pair qualified for the event with a high finish at the NSDA district tournament in March.

Craren and Saunders were partners in only three tournaments this season before advancing to the quarterfinals at the Missouri State High School Activities Association district championships, narrowly missing state qualification.

“They are both seniors but have also only been on the team for about a year and a half,” said BHS speech and debate coach Robyn Haug. “We are very inexperienced this year and they were still able to qualify.”