Six members of the Lincoln-Douglas debate team and six members of the public forum debate team competed in the Washington-Arlington Catholic Forensic League’s (WACFL) Metropolitan Championship Final Tournaments at Dominion High School March 1-2 and Broad Run High School March 8-9, respectively.
In the Lincoln-Douglas debate competition, senior Jeffrey Di Santo qualified for the Grand National Debate Tournament in Philadelphia May 25-26 and junior Grace Erard was designated as the call-up. South Lakes also earned first place in the team sweepstakes, meaning they did the best overall.
“I am proud of the team’s accomplishments and I feel prepared for nationals,” Di Santo said.
In order to qualify for Metro Finals, the debaters had to either place in one of WACFL’s monthly tournaments or earn a 3-1 record twice.
Di Santo, Erard, and senior Kshitij Kumar competed in the varsity Lincoln-Douglas division against nearly 30 of the best debaters in the area.
The tournament was designed so that every competitor participated in six rounds of debate, each one evaluated by two separate judges. Opponents for the first two rounds were assigned randomly, but the subsequent four were power paired based on records.
Di Santo finished with an 8-4 record and 315 speaker points, Erard earned a 7-5 record and 326 speaker points, and Kumar had a 5-7 record with 325 speaker points.
Debaters were ranked based on their overall performance and the top six competitors earned a bid to the Grand National tournament. Di Santo placed fifth and Erard placed seventh, narrowly missing sixth place and national qualification by five speaker points. She will attend the national tournament in the event that one of the top six finishers is unable to go.
Sophomores Alla Cartwright, Amar Singh, and Julian Levy-Myers competed in the junior varsity division of Lincoln-Douglas Metro Finals.
They also participated in six rounds of competition, but they only had one judge per round. Cartwright and Levy-Myers both earned 4-2 records and 103 speaker points, two points shy of qualifying for quarter finals, and Singh had a final 2-4 record with 104 speaker points.
Cartwright, Kumar, and Levy-Myers earned spirit of competition awards for attending all WACFL tournaments this year.
The public forum team also had a strong showing and placed second in the team sweepstakes.
In varsity, senior debate partners Reuben Levy-Myers and Andrew Kropp-Sullivan had a 9-1 record and placed second in the preliminary rounds, advanced to semifinals, and earned fourth place overall. This entitles them to compete in the national tournament.
Juniors Anna Stormoen and Allyson Paiwonsky’s had a 6-4 record and placed seventh. They were one ballot away from qualifying for nationals, but earned call-up status.
Freshmen Henry Woelflein and Kiran Hampton earned a 3-3 record in the junior varsity division.
