WUDL hasn’t been all together since the season opener. We were reminded why – we don’t fit in most buildings, but Deloitte is different. 

The Adam J. Rubinson Memorial Invitational kicks off our nationals qualifying process, and it also commemorates the legacy of a Deloitte partner who used his talents, honed in debate, to make his community a better place. 

Deloitte and Adam’s widow, Susan, have put together a scholarship for a deserving student each year, and we were excited to give the Adam J. Rubinson Outstanding Debater Award this year to Julia Gorman (Duke Ellington). Not only is she an outstanding competitor who has focused her skills on activism, but she has been a leader on her team, training the next generation. 

In HS Varsity: 

Two teams stepped ahead to claim an early lead on qualification spots to the Urban Debate National Championship – brothers James / William (Walls), looking to return to the tournament for William’s 3rd straight qualification, and Alex / Royanna (BASIS DC), who have advanced to elimination rounds at several regionals, but had coach overs or been sick and have been unable to capitalize on those opportunities. 

Chomping at their heels are Rohan / Symon, siblings Marshall / Madison, and Jack / Henry from Banneker, Victoria / Anna and Julia / Amra (Duke Ellington), Amelia / Simone, Bobby / Marie-Celeste, and Marco / Evelyn (Walls), Muhammad / Marcus and Adunola / Chardonae (Forest Park), and Ayisha / Claire and Precious / Hannah (Academy of Health Sciences). It’s still anybody’s game as we head into the second half of the qualifier. 

In MS Varsity:

Stuart Hobson has qualified teams each of the last five years, and this is likely no exception, as Gigi / Kaylana and Zeve / Ian staked out an early lead alongside Xander / Maite (Oyster Adams). 

Jumping up from the closed packet divisions, Karamoko / Gerson and Itoroobong / Melina (Kettering) and Fares / Elias (Francis Hammond) are close behind, as are Eliot Hine’s Louise / Eliza, Stuart Hobson’s Max / Chloe, BASIS DC’s Murray / Philip. 

Debate En Espanol:

Not a qualifier this weekend, but we still had some great bilingual competition! 

Rehaan / Andre (Oyster Adams) took 1st place, with  last year’s national qualifiers, Forest Park’s Diana / Yudelkis finishing 2nd, and DuVal’s Chris / Jose finishing 3rd. 

JV: 

With some folks bumping up to the qualifiers, new faces took home some trophies in JV, led by Magali / Livia (E. Roosevelt), and maverick Antonio (Duke Ellington), who were undefeated. Right behind them were Sierra / Oyinkansola (Academy of Health Sciences), Harold / Shaan (Walls), Flourish / Shujaa (Douglass), Cora / Theo (Eliot Hine), Haeven / Au’Rea (Digital Pioneers), and maverick David (E. Roosevelt). 

Novice: 

If you haven’t seen Stuart Hobson having a good day yet, perhaps this will crystalize that – Karma / Kingston brought home 1st place for Hobson in Novice, with teammate Abigail also going undefeated. 

Other undefeated teams included Louisa / Riley (Eliot Hine), Vera / Henry (Eastern), Sage / Eliana (Hardy), and Henri (Oyster Adams). 

Yareth / Aleksis (Bladensburg), Sherlyn / Bristol (Duke), Vincent / Avigail (Kettering), and Rachel / Amen (Redlands) rounded out the top 10. 

Shout outs to Jewel (Kettering) and Julian (MacFarland) for speaker awards 

Rookie:

Shockingly, Stuart Hobson won this division too, with Alex and Fiona taking 1st place, and teammates Maia / Kaleb, and Thomas / Nero also going undefeated. The surprise is who gave them a good run for their money. 

Newly debuting this tournament, Hyattsville Middle had 12 students come debate, and they brought their A game! 

Seth / Malachi and Adjoa / Penelope went undefeated for Hyattsville (along with Maysa / Ife from Eliot Hine). Hyattsville also had Zach / Sebastian-Abraham, Alan / Kaimari, Damian / Joseph and Isabella / Sophie also with winning records. 

Shout outs to Zarah / Riley (Capitol Hill Montessori) and another Sokolov sibling (Mathias, along with partner Dallas) for winning their first awards in Rookie.