Between Christmas Holidays, Snow, and the Dragon / Northrop split in November, WUDL hasn’t had a local since Halloween that every team was trying to put their best foot forward for. It showed, as we had more than 180 entries in the tournament. This is 35+ teams more than any previous tournament.  

We are excited to welcome Bethune / NSBE, Paul, and Washington Latin Cooper Campus to make their competitive debuts. 

In JV: 

Thorpe / Levett (Stuart Hobson), Abiy / Gibson (Walls), Harrison / Alvarez (DuVal), and Gorod-Hauser / Wong (BASIS) all went undefeated. This was DuVal’s first JV tournament, and they jumped straight from undefeated in Novice to undefeated in JV. Dr. Price’s squad used to be the team to beat in WUDL, and his new class of debaters is well on the way to returning to those heights. 

Thurgood Marshall’s Tubbs finished as the 3rd overall speaker, the team’s best award in team history in a JV division, and Kaleb’s first time debating as a maverick. 

In Novice: 

Richard Wright’s Sheppard / Garrett won the Novice Division, a first for the school, their best outcome ever. Asst. Coach Bryant has made a huge difference since he started there, we look forward to seeing what’s next for the squad. 

John Francis won top 5 awards in Rookie, Novice, and JV, including 2nd Novice Speaker Carrdus, and Awad / Scott (undefeated, 4th overall) in Novice. Coach Young is building a juggernaut in the team’s 1st fall season. 

Friendship Tech had their best showing ever, with Shaw / Jones finishing 8th overall. 

Bladensburg’s 2nd tournament ever was a rousing success. Wills-Mooney / Keita, Odjoula / Chukwuezi, Flores Fuentes / Arias, and Rodriguez Merino / Olatokunbo were all 3-1, with the 1st two partnerships winning awards. 

In Rookie: 

Thomas / James (Stuart Hobson), Toscano / George (Eliot Hine), Dence / McCray (MacFarland), Lombardo / Bartell (Eliot Hine), and Huff were all undefeated, with additional teams from Hardy, John Francis, Kettering, and Oyster Adams all winning awards. 

The top speaker was MacFarland 6th grader Dence, which was her first award. She helped found the team as an incoming debater with some previous experience having participating in our Elementary School program for Bruce Monroe. 

We also had Washington Latin’s Cooper Campus make their debut, and Callie Pratt won the school’s first award. 

We’ll see you in two weeks!