In the Spring, following the NM State Speech and Debate Competition, the NM NSDA District National Qualifier Tournament ("District" or "Nat Quals") is held to determine who will compete at the NSDA National Tournament. The top 2 competitors/team in each event in Speech and Debate will qualify to attend the National Competition held in June. To be one of these qualifiers you must:

• Student and, at least, 1 parent must attend the LCHS District National Qualifier Tournament Interest Meeting on March 4 @ 7:00pm in the Library. This includes any qualifiers from the District Congress Tournament and those who desire to be considered alternates for Congress. Exceptions must be approved by the Head Coach prior to the meeting.

• While students may compete at multiple events at the Qualifier Tournament, No student may qualify for the National Tournament in more than one event.

• Fill out a 

• All students who enter the National Qualifier Tournament MUST plan to attend Nationals. An approximately 1-week grace period following Nat Quals will be given to confirm the entry. 

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• All qualifying students from La Cueva High School will prepare the event they qualified in AND a supplemental event to be entered if they do not break into elimination rounds. Please refer to our Supplementals Page for more information regarding events available.

• All qualifying students from La Cueva High School will need to assist with finding judges to cover our qualifying judge burden within that week time period. If we cannot cover the judge burden, some entries will have to be dropped.

• All qualifying students must have required fees paid prior to the tournament. Any adaptation requests to the payment schedule must go through the Boosters.

• Any competitor who withdraws after committing to attend Nationals will forfeit entry in the following year's National Qualifier and potentially any further entry during their HS career, per the LCHS coaches' rules.

We will travel as a team to Nationals and be gone usually a Saturday to a Saturday. In the past the Nationals Fee has been $1000-$1500/student, but it could be more due to us traveling to Richmond, VA in 2026.

This fee includes:

• Coaches, chaperones, & judges costs divided over the number of National's Competitors

  • Airfare, $20/day food for chaperone/judges, hotel rooms, + any activity costs we may participate in as a team.

• 1 Team Dinner

• Rental Vehicle(s), Gas, & Parking costs divided between National's Competitors

• Individual Student's National's Entry Fee

• Individual Student's airfare & hotel room (up to 4-5 students/room)

Student's are responsible for their own food and any other expenses. We will have hotel rooms with a kitchenette, including a stove, and make a grocery store run to purchase food and other snacks to help save money.