A week after our first road trip in 32 months, we hosted the WUDL Holiday Classic, the last regular season tournament of 2022 and the last chance for a tune-up before our National Qualifiers start in January. Despite most of our advanced debaters staying home to rest after a long weekend, this was still the largest tournament we’ve hosted in many years! 

New teams debuted this year, including Kettering Middle School, Alice Deal, Hugh Browne, Inspired Teaching, and Richard Wright, and many more teams won their first trophies. 

We also took some time to offer more non-competitive experiences for our students, including a debrief for Rookie debaters after their first rounds, and a workshop about case-writing and argumentative creativity for our JV and Varsity students. 

Highlights include: 

Cardozo’s Traley/Armando made their school’s competitive debut in November, and had a nice debut, finishing with a winning record. How do you top a winning record in your debut? You bring additional team members, and go undefeated. 

Girls Global’s Montgomery was in my summer JV lab the first summer of the pandemic as an up and coming middle school debater positioned to represent us at Middle School Nationals that year, but online debate wasn’t for them. Now, years later, as a leader of a different team, the trophies kept on coming. 

Kettering Middle School was one of the largest teams in the league before the pandemic. Now, after one tournament, that is again true. Kettering won a number of trophies after bringing more than 20 students to their first tournament this past weekend, great job Coach Herron! 

While they didn’t win any awards, major props to Hugh Browne, Richard Wright, and Inspired Teaching for their debuts. 

In Varsity, Cap City’s Birnstad/Villaflor went undefeated, positioning themselves as a team to beat for this year’s High School National Qualifiers (though many Varsity teams stayed home after a long weekend in NY). BASIS and Banneker were right behind them, including 8th graders Greaves/Boehm from BASIS. After a 3-3 record in National Circuit Varsity while still in Middle School last weekend, they got 4th place this weekend. 

In JV,  1st semester debater Evans from Douglass won the division, while debating alone. Frederick Douglass has had a great season, with a growing team and some competitive leaders maturing a lot faster than expected after a great crop of seniors all graduated last year. Shout outs to DCI’s McCauley for also placing in JV as a maverick, and to Banneker’s Denny for his debut after several years away as well. 

In Novice, BASIS DC’s Gerety / Dessalegn had their last tournament in this division, as did Cardozo, Banneker and Douglass. Alice Deal’s Dockett-Gilbert and Kaprowski led their team’s debut, finishing 2nd overall, and Hardy’s Pessey and Graber also went undefeated, despite not planning on debating together before the tournament started (Graber was supposed to be in Rookie, and made his debut). Big shout outs to Richard Wright for a winning record in their debut for the first time since the pandemic began as well. 

In Rookie, a wide range of teams won trophies. All are ready to head to Novice and get a further challenge. DCI’s Hyman-Jimenez/Delhaye won the division again, while Stuart Hobson’s Jackson/Arrington, Kettering’s Adepetu/Onwubuche were right behind them. Eliot Hine’s Bibo/Young and Tagyen/Cornwall set a team record, going undefeated in their second tournament ever, while DC Prep’s Fletcher/Mitchell won their team’s first trophy in several year. Center City’s Vance/Bowman and Davis-Marsh/McSwain continued their winning ways as well. This range of award winners across many teams is a great sign of a healthy, vibrant community. Shout out to Creative Mind’s McPherson as the 2nd speaker, winning his school’s first award in 18 months. 

Big shout out to BASIS DC for hosting us on short notice, and to our friends at DPE George Washington for volunteering with us this weekend. The students get so much out of your support as judges and role models. 

We’ll see you Jan. 21st for the beginning of the National Qualifying process (and a normal novice tournament for everyone else), likely at Dunbar High School.