We wrapped up the WUDL regular season at the District Finals Tournament. Even this late in the season, we still had a new team debut (Redlands Middle School) and had more than 30 new debaters getting their toes wet too! 

We have separate posts to celebrate our End of Year Awards, but we want to celebrate the hard work that students did to win the big District Tournament too! 

In Varsity: 

BASIS DC’s Schmidt and Sehgal started the season in Dr. Price’s Novice lab, brand new debaters learning what evidence was. They ended the season winning the District Tournament in Varsity, undefeated. 

They were joined by College Park’s Agbor / Onyilofor, who were also undefeated despite only advancing to Varsity in January. This included defeating BASIS DC’s Mazumdar / Choi on a Politics Disadvantage, proving that strong execution of a predictable argument can be a dangerous tool in the right hands. 

Shoutouts to Webster / Neuroth (Hobson) and Velez / Graber (Hardy) for getting 5th and 6th, respectively, as Middle Schoolers. They’re ready for a deep run at Middle School Nationals. 

In JV: 

While they aren’t bound for Middle School Nationals, Montgomery Village’s Zareen / Solomon won the JV division, in Zareen’s first year in the league. Charles Flowers’ Sosa / Adepetu were right behind them, also undefeated, followed by Woodings /Ventura and Wilkins / Bernstein from Deal. 

Shoutouts: hybrid teams: Gibson / Hyman-Jimenez, a CHEC / DCI hybrid who met that morning (and this was Gibson’s 2nd JV tournament ever) and got 5th place, and Montgomery / Simpson, a Girls Global / Thurgood Marshall hybrid, got 6th. 

In Novice: 

Hardy’s Kennedy / Kern have been winning a lot of Rookie Trophies. Now they’ve added a 1st place Novice to their collection too. Two Seneca Valley teams (in their second tournament ever), were right behind them in 2nd and 4th place, around a hybrid team, Richard Wright’s Sheppard and Douglass’s Tucker, getting 3rd. All four were undefeated. 

Shoutouts: CMIT South’s Greene, who was top Novice Speaker, a 1st for their school, and to Center City Trinidad’s Whitlow / Bowman, who’ve been working hard in Novice all year, and finally got their first trophies this season! 

In Rookie: 

This was Oyster Adam’s weekend in Rookie once again, with a hybrid with KIPP (Whiteside / Grier) winning 1st, Parekh / Patel finished 2nd, and Whiteside (1st), Parekh (2nd), Patel (6th), Berrios (7th), and Sweeney (9th) winning speaker awards. 

Shoutouts: 

To Stu Smithers-Wulsin and his team at Capital City, who were able to host us on short notice after Ballou fell through. Thank you for always being a great partner for eight years and safety net host for us. 

Stay tuned for updates about Debate En Espanol, 3 National Tournaments, and our Spring Elementary School tournament.