Over the weekend before Thanksgiving, the Valparaiso debate team on Friday the 16th and Saturday the 17th went to Chesterton High School for the Chesterton Debate Invitational. With schools from three different states and over a dozen total schools, Valparaiso High School came in second place overall.
The individual results include many placings in all of the different events. In novice congress (novice means that the competitors are in their first year of debate or speech), Jacob Linn got 4th place overall and Anthony Stout got 3rd place overall.
In varsity (varsity is for anyone who is competing in speech or debate for their second or more year) congress, Valpo had three people who placed, Anand Balar in 8th place overall, Dax Ritter in 6th place overall, and Anna Bloom in 5th place overall. In Lincoln Douglas debate for the novices, David McKewan broke (moved on to later rounds because of higher rankings than their opponents) and was a quarter finalist in 4th place.
The varsity members of the high school in Lincoln Douglas had two people who broke. Kelly Adams who was a quarter finalist also in 4th place and Sofia Grimsgard who was a finalist.
In public forum debate for varsity members, the high school had one team that broke which was the team of Troy Borlick and Gavin White who were semifinalists in 2nd place overall. Troy was also given a speaker award for 5th best speaker in varsity public forum.
In policy debate, the team of Jacqui and Kaitie broke into quarterfinals and were 4th place overall. In addition, in policy debate in varsity, Jacqui also received a speaker award of 5th best speaker in varsity policy. In novice policy, Jewan was 4th best speaker and was the only top speaker not from West Lafayette.
I would like to congratulate everyone who competed, those who placed, and those who put forth a lot of effort but did not place. Our next meet this Saturday, December 8, 2012.