At the beginning of the school year, BASIS DC’s Mazumdar / Choi had a good weekend at the Georgetown Day School Invitational, getting a “bid” to the prestigious Tournament of Champions.

This was the first bid in WUDL history, and definitely beyond what we’d expected (at least this year) for the sophomore duo, but it reset their goals for the year. If they’d gotten one bid, why not see about getting a second one?

The competitive pendulum swung back the other direction, and the duo didn’t advance to elimination rounds at several subsequent tournaments. We’d kicked the hive, and our competent and often well resourced opponents had put us in their crosshairs to prepare new strategies against us.

Instead of being discouraged, the duo put their heads down, worked hard, and were creative. This spring, that hard work has been rewarded; the pendulum has swung back in our favor, culminating in this past weekend’s accomplishments:

BASIS DC’s Mazumdar and Choi will head to the Tournament of Champions in April

They are the first WUDL team in history to get a bid to the TOC, and currently the only Urban Debate League team fully qualified to attend the prestigious tournament (though we hope UDL friends from MNUDL and Chicago can get their second bids too!)

Beyond their trip to the Semi-Finals and the TOC bid, the duo also got speaker awards. Mazumdar was 6th, while Daniella 11th (on the 2nd tiebreaker off 10th).

BASIS DC’s Mazumdar / Choi weren’t the only ones bringing home swag from Pennsbury. In Varsity, School Without Wall’s Neuroth / Pessey advanced to Octofinals. Neuroth has advanced to elimination rounds in 3 regionals this year, all with different partners, while Pessey has also advanced to elims twice, with different partners. 

Phelp’s Howard / Cox, BASIS DC’s Sehgal / Schmidt, and Duke Ellington’s Tesfaye / Ondrejcak all finished with winning records, going into their last rounds with a chance to advance. 

Shout outs to Stuart Hobson’s Webster / Neuroth, and Thorpe / Allen, and Hardy’s Velez / Graber for being 2-3 in Varsity while still in Middle School. 

In Novice: 

DuVal’s Esparza / Mathew built on their impressive showing at Lexington and finished as Semifinalists. Mathew was the 6th overall speaker. They’re Varsity ready in their 1st season and will be competing to attend the UDNC in February. 

Two other WUDL teams, making their regional debut, also finished in elimination rounds. 

Stuart Hobson’s Smith / Thorpe (younger brother of the Thorpe in Varsity) finished as quarterfinalists. Smith was the Top Speaker in the division in her first regional competition, while Thorpe (whose older sister is in Varsity) was 14th.

Duke Ellington’s Horkstrader / Gorman, in their third tournament ever, advanced to elimination rounds, finishing as quarterfinalists as well. Gorman was the 4th Speaker overall, while Horkstrader was 12th. 

Big shoutout to Thurgood Marshall’s Simpson and Jones who are the first students from their school to compete regionally. Simpson was the 16th overall speaker, despite a 2-3 record, showing that they did better than their record suggests. Coach Rafia Rifa was along for the ride too, and ended up judging some elimination rounds. We’re so proud of these first timers, and know it won’t be the last time this rising powerhouse competes at this level.

Many thanks to WUDL alumni Zara Escobar, Liv Birnstad, Eric Clarke, Clarke Dickens and Letitia Haffner for supporting the squad this weekend, along with Coach Yigletu (BASIS DC), Coach Yoon (Banneker), and Coach Rifa (Thurgood Marshall).

Join us in celebrating all of these great achievements, and email David if you’d like to join the prep squad for the TOC — we want to leverage the entire league’s network to help our qualifiers succeed, we know they’ll be the first of many to make it to that level.