On Friday, Jan. 22 and Saturday, Jan. 23, the Blue Valley debate team won the four-speaker state title for the fifth time in the past decade.

The team was led by coach Chris Riffer and consisted of seniors Zach Garber, Kevin Hansen and Tyler Kalmus and junior Samantha Nichols.

“I was very excited,” Riffer said. “It was well-deserved by those kids. They worked extremely hard for it.”

Blue Valley West took second and Manhattan took third.

by Sara Naatz