The Speech and Debate teams faced a busy and successful month, winning three tournament titles over the course of early January: the Myers Park Laird Lewis Tournament, the Public Forum Tournament of Champions, and the James Logan Martin Luther King Jr. Tournament.
The Myers Park Laird Lewis title was claimed by Varsity team Frederic Enea (10) and Kelsey Hilbrich (12), while Akshay Jagadeesh (10) and partner Justine Liu (11) advanced to the round of 16. Both teams were invited to compete in the prestigious Public Forum Tournament of Champions, a tournament for the top 16 teams in the country.
Though Akshay and Justine were eliminated after four rounds, Kelsey and Frederic went undefeated, claiming the title after defeating the 2009 National Forensic League National Championship team in the final round on a four to one decision.
“We were very fortunate,” Kelsey said, “I was in shock … we won both tournaments back-to-back.”
“It definitely feels good,” Frederic said. “Things have been going really good for us … I hope we continue to do well.”
Sixteen participants also traveled to Union City for the James Logan Martin Luther King Jr. Tournament, with eleven making it to elimination rounds. Two teams, Ziad Jawadi (11) and Aakash Jagadeesh (10) as well as Justine and Akshay earned their second qualifying leg to the Public Forum Tournament of Champions, allowing them to compete in the invitation-only tournament, and setting a new school record in the event.
Aneesh Chona (9) and Anuj Sharma (9), Revanth Kosaraju (10) and Ishan Taneja (10), as well as Christine Chien (11) and James Seifert (11) made it to the round of 32 in Public Forum Debate of the James Logan Martin Luther King Jr. Tournament.