Speyer Debate Shines at NYDL January and March Tournaments!
A huge congratulations to all of our Speyer Debate teams for the huge amount of hard work they put in at the League’s latest tournaments!
First was the largest tournament so far, held in the January at Tuckahoe! The Speyer team of Madeline C., Lucas L., and Rapha S. went undefeated and won the novice division! In addition, Maddie won a speaker award — just a few points away from the gavel, coming in second place! Max S. and Yuta K. also had a successful day, winning three out of four rounds, coming in sixth place overall...and Max also got a speaker award!
In the varsity division, the team of Lucille K., Immie E., and Linkai S. had a winning record and came sixth overall, and Lucille picked up a speaker award as the fifth place speaker of the division and also as Speyer’s top speaker! Una Joy also won a speaker award! Our other dedicated varsity teams of Livia B., Aarush B., Francesca G., Arianna R., Adil K., Ari K., Lukas H., Una Joy H., Gabriel O., and Lucas H. also debated with passion and intensity, had some solid wins, and some tough losses — often by just a hair.
In March, our Speyer Debate teams worked hard and gave it their all over a long day at the Fieldston School! Our team spirit and dedication really shone through — whether it was by attending extra practices or showing team flexibility, the debaters really did themselves, and our school, proud!
We had some strong showings: our novice team of Lucy J., Trent P., and Max S. won three out of their four rounds and won second place in their division. In the Varsity Division, Una Joy H. won the gavel as top speaker overall (huzzah!), and Livia B., Aarush B., and Francesca G. won three out of four rounds and secured eleventh place out of 51 teams! Maddie C., Yuta K., Lukas H., Una Joy H., and Jack L. had some solid wins, as did Lucille K., Immie E., Linkai S., Adil K., Zachary C., Arianna R., Baxter O., and Connor L. who put in a strong effort and had some close calls.
At both tournaments, we had amazing support from parent and alumni judges! Thank you to our parent judges, Mr. Iliev, and alumni judges Brynn M. and Sana M. (Speyer Class of 2020) and Max E. (Speyer Class of 2017)!
We're so proud of all of our Speyer debaters and huge standing ovation to our wonderful and dedicated coach Ms. MacKay!
What's next? Speyer will be in the spotlight as the host of the New York Debate League Championships on Saturday, April 27! We are all incredibly excited for Speyer Debate to shine on our home turf!