Congressional Debate
Vir Sanghavi - 3rd
Amanuddin Mohammed - 5th
Ahilan Eswaran - Finalist
Tyler Morosan - Finalist
Alexander Zhao - Semifinalist
Serena Bentsen - Semifinalist
Swami Nathan - Semifinalist
Anaya Arain - Semifinalist

Public Forum Debate
Colin Donovan & Joseph Hurtado - 2nd
Preston Kyle & Luka Rahman - Semifinalists
Jake Oswald & Sunil Vadapalli - Quarterfinalists
Sohum Bhardwaj & Aarav Saini - Quarterfinalists
Adarsh Mohanty & Pierce Ozoude - Octofinalists

Preston Kyle - Top PF Speaker

Lincoln-Douglas Debate
Swathi Saravanan - Quarterfinalist

Sahana Dillibabu - Top LD Speaker

Extemporaneous Speaking
Dhruv Goyal - 4th
Siddharth Reddy - 5th
Jaya Ramineni - Semifinalist

Declamation
Fatima Alghafir - 5th
Coral Walia - Semifinalist

Duet Improvisation
Will Giesen & Isaac Moody - 2nd
Dyllan Ellis & Ellie Moody - Semifinalists

Dramatic Interpretation
Victory Cintron - Semifinalist

Duo Interpretation
Allegra Marx & Jaya Ramineni - Semifinalists
Fatima Alghafir & Adela Kusinski - Semifinalists
Kelcie Christian & Maryam Elkady - Semifinalists

Humorous
Victory Cintron - 3rd

Impromptu Speaking
Fatima Alghafir - 2nd
Rohin Joshi - 3rd
Alav Madani - Semifinalist
Nyla Phillips-Lockett - Semifinalist
Adela Kusinski - Semifinalist

Informative Speaking
Mia Natali - 2nd
Lena Beddar - 3rd
Ella Naglis - 4th
Kiran Bansal - Semifinalist
Zoe Ralhan - Semifinalist
Adela Kusinski - Semifinalist

Original Oratory
Siddharth Reddy - 6th
Will Giesen - Semifinalist
Lena Beddar - Semifinalist
Mia Natali - Semifinalist

Original Poetry
Victory Cintron - 3rd
Leyla Borasino - Semifinalist

Program of Oral Interpretation
Aiden Vasquez - 5th

Poetry
Victory Cintron - Semifinalist
Kai Krugly - Quarterfinalist
Danielle Harris - Quarterfinalist

Prose
Ella Naglis - 4th
Fatima Alghafir - Quarterfinalist
Elizabeth Cheng - Quarterfinalist
Kiran Bansal - Quarterfinalist

Storytelling
Giuliana Presenti - Quarterfinalist
Simran Patel - Quarterfinalist
Sophia Bush - Quarterfinalist

​

Here's how your child qualifies for State and/or Nationals:
Both of those tournaments are open tournaments at the Middle School level. But because our team is so large and there are entry limits, we have a criteria called "national points." Modeled after the same concept that the high schools use for State qualification here in Texas, our Nats points system allows competitors to earn points on the following scale:

Debate Events (PF/LD/WSD)                              Speech Events + Congress
1st or 2nd Place - 10 points                                 1st Place - 10 points
Semifinalists - 7 points                                         2nd Place - 7 points
Quarterfinalists - 4 points                                    3rd Place - 4 points
Octafinalists - 2 points                                         4th - 6th - 2 points

Sometimes different scales are used depending on how the competitive the tournament/event is. Points are doubled in high school varsity events and can be halved in middle school novice events or if the event doesn't have any elimination rounds. Points are not stacked; ex: getting to semifinals in debate earns 7 points, not 7+4+2 etc.

The last chance for students to qualify for State or Nats is the Olle Tournament on Feb. 23 & 24.

STATE
The top 4 point earners in each event are invited to represent us for TJSDA State. Depending on the event, we may invite up to 6 in an event. Students who compete in both debate and speech cannot do both at State. State this year is at Elsik High School April 19 & 20. There will be days after school devoted to prep starting after Spring Break. The fee for State is anticipated to be $150, which covers entry fees and buses (financial assistance available). 

NATIONALS
Any student earning 20 points or more in total is qualified for Nationals. The event(s) a competitor does at Nats is determined on a case-by-case basis, depending on what event(s) they've competed in and had consistent success in throughout the year. Students who compete in both debate and speech cannot do both at Nats. As the coach, I do reserve the right to make executive decisions about students going based on behavior and/or not having 20 points. There is a prep camp for Nationals from June 10-17, noon to 4 p.m. at Lanier. We depart for Des Moines, Iowa on June 18 and return June 22. The fee for Nationals is anticipated to be $950. This will cover airfare, hotel, ground transport and entry fees (financial assistance available).

After the Olle Tournament, students who have qualified for State and Nats will be notified. Informational Zoom meetings will be held for Nationals starting Sunday evening, March 3 at 7 p.m.

If you have any questions, please contact me at [email protected]
Thanks!
​Franz Hill

Remaining Tournaments/Events this year:

Jan. 27 - MS Tournament at Spring High School
Feb. 10 - TED Ed event, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Feb. 17 - MS Tournament at Lamar High School
Feb. 23 & 24 - MS Tournament at E.A. Olle Middle School
Apr. 6 - MS Tournament at Jordan High School (by invitation only)
Apr. 19 & 20 - TJSDA State Tournament at Elsik High School