BASIS DC’s Schmidt / Applegate earn a bid to the Tournament of Champions

Jack and Margaret also won the most recent local tournament at John Francis Education Campus

Debate is a powerful academic intervention, with more data than you can shake a stick at showing how impactful it can be on student grades, test scores, absenteeism and all sorts of other metrics.

Once and a while, we also get excited by the competitive outcomes. WUDL has had some truly impressive teams over the years, with students advancing to elimination rounds at regional tournaments with some regularity.

DuVal’s Ernest Ntangu and Justin Sayoto were the first WUDL team in league history to get into a “bid” round, or a qualifying round for the Tournament of Champions, one of the most prestigious and rigorous End of Year tournaments in the nation. They did so in 2019 at Mamaroneck, and lost, but they paved the way for others to reach similar heights. In 2021, Emmanuel Makinde and Nathaniel Banjo reached the “bid” round at the John Lewis Invitational while debating online, and in 2023, Liv Birnstad and Joey Villaflor reached a bid round at Lexington. Each generation passed the torch, challenging those coming up behind them to work harder and improve.

It all came together in 2024, when BASIS DC’s Sitara Mazumdar and Daniella Choi won the GDS tournament and claimed the league’s first ToC bid. They earned their second at Pennsbury, finishing as Semi-Finalists, becoming the first WUDL team to qualify for the ToC as sophomores.

We won’t have to wait another generation of debaters to get students through. BASIS DC sophomores Margaret Applegate and Jack Schmidt broke through at the Mamaroneck tournament this past weekend. Jack and Margaret earned their first bid to the ToC, a few weeks after Margaret (and Leah) reached the “bid” round earlier this year at the Dragon, while Jack (and Royanda) went 4-2 and didn’t advance on speaker points.

Fittingly, Ernest (now a first year associate at PWC), Emmanuel (studying neuroscience at NYU), Liv (studying Education at Harvard, and coaching the Boston Urban Debate League), and Sitara / Daniella (now juniors, who went 4-2 and didn’t break on speaks) were all there this weekend as WUDL brought our “A” game to support our current participants.

Other shoutouts:

  • School without Walls Zahra Dinkins and Marie-Celeste Pessey also advanced to elimination rounds, their first time together.
  • Banneker’s Jack Troutman Ritchey and Nyla Dinkins (yes, sisters) went 4-2, and were the best team to not advance to elimination rounds. This is their best finish, both together or apart, and Banneker’s best finish in many years of Travel Team participation.
  • BASIS DC’s Sitara and Daniella also didn’t advance on speaker points, finishing 4-2.
  • Claudia Hyman-Jimenez and Addie Worsley (8th graders) from DC International jumped up to Varsity after being Semi-Finalists in JV at the Dragon. They went 2-4, showing that they belong at this level (including beating Jack and Margaret earlier in the tournament).
  • Alumni Eric Clarke (CHEC), Emmanuel Makinde (Flowers), Ernest Ntangu (DuVal), and Aisha Bah (Roosevelt), plus coaches Nala King (DCI)  and Messai Yigletu (BASIS DC), and WUDL Advisory Board member Alex Currie joined the WUDL staff supporting the teams this past weekend. Thank you for your time and talents!