Sometimes, it’s nice to save the best for last. 

The Pennsbury Falcon Invitational has always been a favorite tournament for WUDL — it’s the closest of our regional travel options, and is late in the year, so that many less experienced debaters who are finally ready for the next level can get their toes wet. 

We also seem to do pretty well there. The tournament is unique, with no judge preference system, so adaptation is the name of the game, something our teams seem well prepared to do. 

This year was no exception, as the league reached new competitive heights, and brought more students than ever before (50 students!). Now that the lead is buried sufficiently…..

• BASIS DC’s Jack Schmidt and Margaret Applegate won the tournament, AND received their 2nd bid to the Tournament of Champions. They’ll be heading to Kentucky in April. As sophomores, they are some of the youngest folks expected to attend the tournament, but their creativity and work ethic are hard to match. 
• BASIS DC’s Sitara Mazumdar and Daniella Choi also earned their first ToC bid this season, advancing to the Semi-Finals (and ending their tournament there on a “coach over,” as BASIS hit BASIS in the Semis). Their tough luck season, where they’ve defeated some of the best teams in the nation, just not at the right time, seems to be balancing out. They also were the 3rd and 6th individual speakers, respectively. 

But wait, there’s more! 

• Zahra Dinkins / Marie-Celeste Pessey and brothers William and James Neuroth from School Without Walls also advanced to elimination rounds, marking the first time this season both teams advanced (usually just one of them makes it to elims). 
• Victoria Ondrejcak and Anna Sullivan from Duke Ellington also advanced to Octo-Finals, marking Duke’s first trip to elimination rounds in school history. The duo has been experimenting with “performative” styles of debate, playing with the way they convey information and persuade people, not just the content of their case. 
• Banneker’s Rohan Young and Symon Goldblatt were the best team not to advance to elimination rounds, Rohan’s 2nd near miss as a freshman(!). 
• College Park’s Stephan Agbor and Muna Onyilofor also had a winning record. While the seniors missed regional elimination rounds, they’ve had a heck of a career to be very proud of, and are still in the hunt to qualify for the Urban Debate National Championship in two weeks. 
• In Novice: Stuart Hobson’s Marshall Thorpe and Fiona Levett were the 2nd and 3rd overall speakers, advancing to Quarterfinals. 
• WUDL had two more teams with winning records: 
• Freshmen Carmen Garner and Arielle Jean, from Charles Flowers, attended their first regional, finishing 11th overall, while freshmen Ella Ross, and 8th grader Mandolyn Brown finished 12th, also with a winning record. 

 These students reflect the incredible intellectual diversity of the league, with cases ranging from patents on Indigenous Knowledge, Afro-Futurism, and Disability Studies to discussing Blockchain and Neuralink. 

As a league — and potentially the thing I’m most proud of — this was the first time that we’ve had our % of elimination round participation match the % overall of entries in the tournament, further proof that our students belong in these spaces. Full representation in these highly competitive spaces is a testament to the hard work our students have done to belong in the face of some substantive structural inequities along the way.

Thanks for our great prep team: 

• David, Mac, and Danielle from WUDL Staff
• Alumni Clarke Dickens (Student, UPenn), Eric Clarke (MITRE, Coach at Walls), Aisha Bah (Student, Wesleyan, and Coach, Roosevelt), and Chloe Mshana (Student, Drexel, and proud older sister)
• Coaches Aleiu Kamara and Nala King (DC International), Messai Yigletu (BASIS DC), and Rafia Rifa (Thurgood Marshall)
• Volunteers: Jonathan Gonzalez, and Alex Currie (WUDL Advisory Board Members)

Join us Feb. 22nd at Deloitte for the 2nd half of the Urban Debate National Championship Qualifiers!