The key to a good tournament experience is a great host, and we’ve got to tip our caps to the folks at Hart Middle School for going all out as our hosts. Not only did they have water, and concessions available for folks, but they have volunteers to help serve food, give directions, and an extensive custodial crew to keep the place tidy during the day. 

This is doubly impressive as: 

A) Hart has never hosted before, and

B) This was the largest WUDL tournament ever, beating out two earlier this year, and some great tournaments from the 2018-2019 season pre-pandemic. 

We look forward to returning! 

Many years ago, WUDL Coaches voted to have a two tournament national qualifying process. This was designed to lower the stress of a winner take all competition, and let folks have a chance to recover from a bad weekend. 

Nevertheless, the beginning of the process is always extremely exciting. With 2 spots to the Urban Debate National Championship, and 6 spots (4 via competition) to Urban Debate Middle School Nationals up for grabs, the competition was fierce in the Varsity divisions. We also had robust competition in JV, Novice, and Rookie as well, with Francis Stevens, Columbia Heights, and Seneca Valley all making their debut. 

In High School Varsity, we have a robust pool of competitors, with School Without Walls’ Dinkins / Neuroth claiming the top spot after the 1st half of competition, but teams from Banneker, BASIS DC, College Park, Duke Ellington, DuVal, McKinley Tech, Phelps, and Roosevelt still deep in the hunt. Special shout outs to Duke Ellington (freshman) and College Park (1st local Varsity tournament) for having a great weekend. 

In Middle School, Stuart Hobson’s Pinson / Filiung-Reinard and Thorpe / Sullivan claimed the top spots, but teams from Alice Deal, Capital City, Creative Minds, Eliot Hine, Hardy, Kettering, Montgomery Village, Oyster Adams, and of course, more Stuart Hobson teams are still in the hunt. 

Special shout outs to Capital City and Oyster Adams for jumping up to Varsity without any previous experience at this level. 

In JV, congrats to BASIS DC’s Ting/Poudel, Alice Deal’s Ammerman-McClean/Swann, and Flower’s Julian for their undefeated performances. Alice Deal’s Felton/Elton-Melzi, Eliot Hine’s Sullivan/Powell, and Columbia Height’s Gibson for going 3-1 as well. For Columbia Height’s Gibson, this was her first tournament of the year, and she is already winning awards in JV, debating alone. She has a very bright future. 

In Novice, Douglass’s Mackall / Thornton, Thurgood Marshall’s Dallas / Tubbs and Jones/Simpson, Banneker’s McDonald/Hannagan, Alice Deal’s Janus/Mayanga, and Hardy / Francis Steven’s Gardner / Meehan all went undefeated. Great job! Douglass’s Mackall / Thornton did particularly well, 4.5 speaker points ahead of their nearest rivals. 

In Rookie, Hardy’s Kern/Kennedy, KIPP Shaw/Oyster Adam’s Taylor/Andres, Francis Steven’s Chowdhury/Flynn, Eliot Hine’s Connally / Bernstein, and Rountree/Stewart, Davis/Pierce, Jenkins/Nwagwu, and Gaines/Rooth all went undefeated. Congrats to all of our youngest competitors! 

Join us again next time (Feb. 24th) at Deloitte as we choose our national qualifiers for 2023-2024!