The Lexington Winter Invitational, or “Big Lex” is a crucial part of the regional circuit, but especially this year, the tournament attracted a number of highly regarded teams from around the nation, including Berkley Prep and Pinecrest from Florida, Peninsula from California, Wylie Groves from Michigan, Kinkaid from Texas, and others with lots of bids to the TOC. 

Against an unusually stacked lineup, WUDL still had a great tournament.

In Varsity:

BASIS DC’s Mazumdar / Choi went undefeated on the 1st day, putting a giant target on their back for some of the best teams in the country. They beat one of Berkley Prep’s teams to close out Saturday, but faced two more Berkley Prep teams on Sunday morning. While they lost those rounds, they still advanced to elimination rounds. With a favorable matchup in Doubles, the team had to forfeit due to a medical issue. 

BASIS DC’s Pierce / Applegate also advanced to the Double-Octofinals, going up the back of the bracket and clinching their advance on Sunday. 

Both teams were a year or two younger than the rest of the elimination round participants, and have very bright futures (and are pretty dang good right now). 

Forest Park, DuVal (below), and BASIS DC’s Chen / Dessalegn all went 3-3, which we’re very proud of. WUDL had 11 Varsity teams, and all but two won at least 2 rounds. 

In the JV Break Out:

While not having an actual JV division, Lexington offered less experienced Varsity teams their own elimination bracket, and WUDL did quite well. 

Forest Park advanced to the semi-finals. Heron / Rahman have had an up and down season, making a searing critique of the military industrial complex. This past weekend, they focused on being specific, giving examples and contextualizing their theory in reality. The results were immediate, and we look forward to seeing what they can do next at Emory. 

DuVal’s Olorunfemi / Abiola also advanced in JV, and beat Pinecrest in the semi-finals to advance to the finals, where they lost on a 2-1 decision to Bronx Science. This team has really improved over the last few months, a shout out to Coach Bah’s assistance over the last two travel trips.  

In Novice:

BASIS DC’s Schmidt / Sehgal advanced to the finals, and lost. Regardless of the exact outcome, this team is Varsity ready after a quick run through the divisions in the 1st semester. Jack was the top speaker, while Xena was 6th. 

DuVal’s Esparza / Matthew, in their first regional competition ever, also advanced to elimination rounds and went all the way to Semi-Finals, before losing the BASIS. Matthew was the 10th overall speaker. We’re very excited about their growth and improvement. 

All of this success comes with the context that WUDL drove overnight to Lexington, leading the team to be a bit under-rested for the main day of preliminary competition. 

Many thanks to WUDL alumni Aisha Bah, Liv Birnstad, Noah Joshua, Letitia Haffner, and BDL alumni Amishai Goodman-Goldstein for coming along with us and serving as coaches and judges for the competition. 

Newark:

While the WUDL Travel Team didn’t win any trophies at this one, we were very excited to send folks to a new competition. Many thanks to Temitope and Alston for great hospitality as we had two teams, Girls Global and College Park Academy, get their first Varsity experience. 

See you this weekend at Hart Middle School for the WUDL Winter Classic and the beginning of our national qualifying process.