WUDL Sweepstakes Cup: BASIS DC

BASIS defended their title once again, and it wasn’t particularly close this time. The bottom line is, BASIS DC has an incredible crop of freshman and sophomores that are all highly competitive Varsity debaters, so it will be tough for any team to dislodge them in the near future. 

This cadre of Varsity debaters is growing. Despite losing WUDL Student Choice Award winner Victoria to Duke Ellington, Middle School Nationals Finalist Greta to California, and Violet to sports, the team substantially increased its Varsity squad. Newcomers Jack and Xena rocketed to the top, winning the District tournament despite being walk-on freshmen in the fall who didn’t know what debate was, while Alex and Royana also got pretty close to Varsity, attending a few travel tournaments along the way. Long time members (and for a bit, the only boys on the team), Caspar and Hans also took a big step forward, almost qualifying for Middle School Nationals. 

Coach Yigletu has a strong, dynamic team, that does a lot of research, writes creative cases, and works together to improve.  

High School Team of the Year, and Student Choice Award Winner: Benjamin Banneker High School

Banneker was our first Sweepstakes Cup Winner, and has re-emerged as a powerhouse across all three divisions, though their Varsity squad could challenge BASIS for the top ranking if they had more regular attendance. They continue to have a young, hungry team that represented the league on the Travel Team, led by Keoni Scott-Reid Award Winner Parker and partner Tatum and hungry freshmen like Jack and Symon, a great JV squad that has started to matriculate in to Varsity, led this year by Robert and Lydia, who attended several travel tournaments. 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 legions of new debaters, having new students debut every tournament this year. They are by far the largest team in the league, but it isn’t just taking up half of the cafeteria — they have really come into their own as a large, competitive Varsity squad this year under the leadership of returning Varsity debaters Madison, James, Evelyn, and Anna. At the last tournament of the year this year, they had four Varsity teams, all of whom qualified to Middle School Nationals (a first to qualify four teams, and to qualify 4 years in a row) and a number of strong JV partnerships as well. 

Coach Plaisted has built a machine, working with his feeder pattern to get excited students to do Elementary School Debate, and feeding them into his team from the bottom, with great encouragement, peer leadership, and assistance from Ass. Coach Alfuth for his more advanced students. Despite a lot of graduations looming, Hobson will remain a powerhouse for many years to come. 

WUDL Student Choice Awards: Middle School Team of the Year: Hardy

I spoke to new teacher-coach Forest Givens about his squad in November, and he felt like he was missing something. He said — the older kids basically run half the practices, and I have great volunteer support from Coach Harvey Schweitzer, so I don’t feel like I’m doing all that much. 

I told Coach Givens that, when you have a well oiled machine, that’s how it’s supposed to feel! Hardy, despite losing two of their most experienced debaters moving away this year, still fielded two strong JV / Varsity teams that did a lot of the peer coaching. Velez / Graber is representing WUDL at Middle School Nationals, and Pessey / Greene was close (and Pessey was Student Choice Middle School Debater of the Year). 

The team continued to grow and expand, fielding 9-10 teams in the second half, with new students such as Lily / Lucy, and Ama / Nathaniel winning lots of awards and beginning to move up. The team is set to graduate only two of its four most experienced debaters, and is well situated for next season as well. 

Big shout out to some multi-sibling families at all of these schools; BASIS DC (Ondrejcak), Hobson (2 Thorpes going to MS Nationals this year alone), Banneker (Beauvais, Hailu) and Hardy (Krevat, Pessey), following in their older sibling’s footsteps as great debaters!