News Detail
SA's Young Debaters Shine at Western Novice & JV Championship Tournament
While many of the news highlights from SA Debate this year have focused on the success of the Varsity team, on the weekend of March 11-12, twenty-three novice and JV debaters participated in the Western states championship tournament for first- and second-year debaters from across the West. The nearly two dozen young debaters were coached and mentored by the Varsity team leaders, Audrey von Raesfeld '17, Caleb Kornfein '17, Aris Saxena '17, and Connor Duncan '17, who coached and judged for almost 30 hours over the two-day tournament.
And the results were impressive: SA had the largest policy debate entry of any school in the tournament, and five of our eleven teams earned winning records with with another seven debaters being only one win away from that winning record.
In second-year policy debate, Gibran Hassan '19 and Maya Nichols '18 earned a winning record.
In first-year policy debate, eight SA debaters earned a winning record and advanced to the elimination debates: Sam Hoppe '17, Nurel Arriran '18, Atticus Cohen '20, Hannah Nabavi '20, Izzy Cohen '20, Micaela Peavey '20, Rachel Gothelf '19, and Emily Kassner-Marks '19. Because the elimination bracket is set and immovable based on prelim wins and speaker points, Sam and Nurel were matched against Atticus and Hannah. Since the latter pairhad a higher seed, they "walked over" the former to debate in Quarterfinals where they were ultimately defeated. Meanwhile Izzy and Micaela won their Octafinal (Round of 16) debate, and moved on to Quarterfinals where they were eliminated on a close 2-1 judges decision. Sophomore standouts Emily and Rachel won their Octafinal debate and their Quarterfinal debate, making it all the way to Semifinals of the tournament where they were finally bested by a strong team who went on to win the Championship.
Additionally, five SA debaters placed in the top 20 overall speakers in the novice division: Emily Kassner-Marks (7th), Isabelle Elder (11th), Rachel Gothelf (13th), Sam Hoppe (16th), and Olivia Synek (19th). Gibran Hassan was 14th speaker in the JV division.
This tournament would not have been possible without some chaperoning and driving help from Ellie Dwight all day Saturday and an awesome team of parents over both days: Kit Flanagan, Nikki Sullivan, Kim Stephens, Edna Needleman, Melissa Long, Amy Galusha, and Janine Cohen.
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And the results were impressive: SA had the largest policy debate entry of any school in the tournament, and five of our eleven teams earned winning records with with another seven debaters being only one win away from that winning record.
In second-year policy debate, Gibran Hassan '19 and Maya Nichols '18 earned a winning record.
In first-year policy debate, eight SA debaters earned a winning record and advanced to the elimination debates: Sam Hoppe '17, Nurel Arriran '18, Atticus Cohen '20, Hannah Nabavi '20, Izzy Cohen '20, Micaela Peavey '20, Rachel Gothelf '19, and Emily Kassner-Marks '19. Because the elimination bracket is set and immovable based on prelim wins and speaker points, Sam and Nurel were matched against Atticus and Hannah. Since the latter pairhad a higher seed, they "walked over" the former to debate in Quarterfinals where they were ultimately defeated. Meanwhile Izzy and Micaela won their Octafinal (Round of 16) debate, and moved on to Quarterfinals where they were eliminated on a close 2-1 judges decision. Sophomore standouts Emily and Rachel won their Octafinal debate and their Quarterfinal debate, making it all the way to Semifinals of the tournament where they were finally bested by a strong team who went on to win the Championship.
Additionally, five SA debaters placed in the top 20 overall speakers in the novice division: Emily Kassner-Marks (7th), Isabelle Elder (11th), Rachel Gothelf (13th), Sam Hoppe (16th), and Olivia Synek (19th). Gibran Hassan was 14th speaker in the JV division.
This tournament would not have been possible without some chaperoning and driving help from Ellie Dwight all day Saturday and an awesome team of parents over both days: Kit Flanagan, Nikki Sullivan, Kim Stephens, Edna Needleman, Melissa Long, Amy Galusha, and Janine Cohen.
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Emily and Rachel in the Semis!
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Quarterfinalists Izzy and Micaela
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Quarterfinalists Atticus and Hannah
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Audrey and Caleb helping Izzy and Micaela prep for their elim debate.
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Audrey mentoring the next generation of SA Debaters.
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Emily and Rachel learning from the Varsity squad right before Semis!
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