WUDL Sweepstakes Cup: BASIS DC
BASIS defended their title, but Stuart Hobson and Banneker didn’t let them do so easily. Not only did the race come down to the final tournament, but we had to go to the never used before tie breaking criteria to determine the winner. BASIS DC freshman Saron was the top speaker in JV at Districts, giving BASIS DC 1 more top speaker award than Stuart Hobson for the year, and thus, the title.
Given to the team that has the best season across all of our tournaments. Points are awarded via a formula based on wins by a schools highest performing teams at any particular tournament. Wins are weighted by division, so winning in Varsity is worth more points than winning in Novice (its harder!).
BASIS DC is poised to be a dominant force in the league for years to come. With only 1 senior who didn’t debate much this year, the team was mostly 7th, 8th, and 9th graders who will only continue to improve. The school could have as many as 5 Varsity teams next season, a throwback to DuVal’s days of winning the Sweepstakes Cup year after year. They qualified two teams to, and won Middle School Nationals (again, the first school to win twice), and had two freshmen teams as alternates for High School Nationals. New debaters debuted, almost everyone advanced to new divisions. Suffice to say, it was a good year.
High School Team of the Year: Benjamin Banneker
Banneker was our first Sweepstakes Cup Winner, and has re-emerged as a powerhouse across all three divisions. They continue to have a young, hungry team that represented the league on the Travel Team, a great JV squad that has started to matriculate in to Varsity, led by first year debaters Bridget and Winnie (more on her later). Coach Arndt also supports debate as part of the curriculum at Banneker. They are a team on the rise that we hope will reclaim the Sweepstakes Cup soon.
Middle School Team of the Year: Stuart Hobson
Stuart Hobson continues to have hordes of new debaters, by far the largest team in the league, and also had a team in the final round of Middle School Nationals, the only 7th graders we qualified. That makes 3 years in a row the school has had students in the semifinals or better at Middle School Nationals, and we’ve come to expect that Stuart will field Varsity debaters, even though they are still in Middle School. Despite not having high school debaters, Stuart Hobson was even slightly leading the Sweepstakes race coming into the last tournament. The league’s largest team, Coach Plaisted is a recruitment wizard, and has some great support from new Ass. Coach Alfuth. They have a number of strong debaters poised to compete in all four divisions next year, and also lead our emerging Elementary School Debate Initiative.
WUDL Student Choice Awards: High School Team of the Year: School Without Walls
School Without Walls represented the WUDL at Nationals, and had two other Varsity teams in the hunt to qualify, all of whom are already working on some innovative new arguments for next season’s topic. They also have an emerging novice program that will only grow. Led by rising seniors Jener and Akesh, the squad isn’t losing anybody and Coaches Clarke and Philip have set their sights on the Sweepstakes Cup next year.
WUDL Student Choice Awards: Middle School Team of the Year: Eliot Hine
Eliot Hine was one of our best new programs this year. Coach Crump has already made contributions to the league’s curriculum, and her students made their mark in the Rookie and Novice Divisions. The principals of Stuart Hobson and Eliot Hine have declared a friendly rivalry for the “Capitol Hill Cup,” and this year’s team at Eliot Hine has an eerie resemblance to the first year at Hobson under Coach Plaisted. The sky is the limit for this team going into next season.
Stay tuned for more write ups about our End of Year Awards later this week!