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Speech & Debate

Speech and Debate Team Wins Big at CSU Long Beach

by Lani Frazer, Speech and Debate Coach
The Speech & Debate team recently competed at the CSU Long Beach Jack Howe Invitational, held from September 23-25 in Long Beach, CA. A group of 20 students flew to LA to compete in this national circuit season opener. Our students came into this season prepared; five students participated in intensive summer debate programs, ranging from three to five weeks in length, held at UC Berkeley and Gonzaga University. This hard work paid off, and we had our most successful season opener to date! 

In Varsity Policy Debate, the team of Zadie DeFord ‘24 and Luca Tonda ‘24 earned an impressive winning record, winning four out of their six preliminary debate rounds on the topic of security cooperation within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. As part of the upper echelon of the varsity division, Zadie and Luca moved on to the elimination debates, where they competed in the double octofinal elimination round. 

In Novice Policy Debate, many of our students competed in their first debate tournament, and were met with great success. Disha Sharma ‘25 and the teams of Calvin Schaeffer ‘26/Atticus Moss ‘26, Paul Macievich ‘25/Jack Miller ‘24, and Caroline Young ‘25/Dom Oliveri ‘24 all earned winning records in the novice division—the best showing we’ve ever had in Novice! Caroline and Dom emerged at the top of the bracket and earned their way into the quarterfinal elimination debate. The team of Joshua Lim ‘26/Siddharth Kohli ‘26 won four of their five preliminary debates, and were the second seed of the tournament before elimination debates. Josh and Sid won their quarterfinal and semifinal debates, and made it all the way to the final championship round of the tournament. 

On the Speech side of the tournament, Aubrey Elder ‘23 started the year off strong, earning his way into the semifinal round of Impromptu speaking and finishing in the top 10 in a very competitive field of students. Athena Ryan ‘24 competed in Dramatic Interpretation for the first time, and earned 4th place in her division. Nia Murray ‘24 was a finalist in Varsity Dramatic Interpretation. 

Congratulations to our competitors! Next up, the debate team heads to our first Golden Gate Speech Association League Tournament of the year at Monte Vista High School.
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