Debaters Compete at Hendrickson/Pflugerville Tournament
To prepare new arguments, Harsha Rajesh ’20, Daniel Tehrani ’20, and Samit Deshmukh ’20 read an article. Photo courtesy of WHS Speech and Debate.
To help him prepare against his opponents, Truman Le explains an argument to Saavan Myneni ’20. Photo courtesy of WHS Speech and Debate.
Getting ready for his quarter-finals round, Pranav Medikonduru ’22 types on his laptop. Photo courtesy of WHS Speech and Debate.
Before her next round, Ariel Sun ’23 reads out her case for practice. Photo courtesy of WHS Speech and Debate.
Starting off his semi-finals round, Frank Lai ’20 reads out his case. Photo courtesy of WHS Speech and Debate.
Nathan Fang ’22 chats to other debaters. Photo courtesy of WHS Speech and Debate.
Hendrickson High School was packed with competitors preparing and rushing from one round to the next during the Hendrickson/Pflugerville Central Texas Swing Debate tournament that took place from Friday, Aug. 30 to Saturday, Aug. 31. It was the first debate tournament of the year on the local debate circuit, and being a swing tournament meant that it was two tournaments combined into one, increasing the number of rounds debated during the two days. Many students felt a mixture of emotions at the site of their first competition of the year.
“Feelings towards the first tournament, at first it’s nervousness,” Sudiksha Pradhan ‘21 said. “After the first couple rounds, you’re kind of tired, but also you’re finally back in the flow of tournament season.”
The results of each side of the tournament can be found below.
Hendrickson
Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking
1st Place: Anurima Mummaneni
8th Place: Rishob Dasgupta
Semi-Finalists:
Jeff Freeman
Vishal Narra
Foreign Extemporaneous Speaking
5th Place: Sonny Stenson
6th Place: Rishi Rajiv
Semi-Finalists:
Sophia Wang
Hrushi Saranu
Tim Ma
Novice Extemporaneous Speaking
Semi-Finalists: Rowechen Zhong
Varsity Lincoln Douglas (LD) Debate
Semi-Finalists:
Alex Lee
Pranav Medikonduru
Quarter-Finalists:
Alice Zhang
Davina Le
Saavan Myneni
Octo-Finalists:
Eric Gao
AJ Darwin
Varsity Public Forum (PF) Debate
Semi-Finalists:
Pranav Kulkarni – Anand Singh
Jeff Freeman – Arnav Gunwani
Octo-Finalists:
Frank Lai – Harsha Rajesh
Sophia Wang – Mika Freund
Sidh Pandit – Sruthi Ramaswamy
Bryce Keeler – Amogh Mahambare
Novice Public Forum (PF) Debate
2nd Place: Ariel Sun – Jessamine Qu
Pflugerville
Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking
1st Place: Anurima Mummaneni
3rd Place: Jeff Freeman
5th Place: Rishob Dasgupta
8th Place: Pranav Srinivasan
Semi-Finalists:
Srivaishnavi Marreddy
Clementine Larrouilh
Anthony Kehl
Foreign Extemporaneous Speaking
5th Place: Anuja Uppuluri
Semi-Finalists:
Sonny Stenson
Tim Ma
Aman Tewari
Lennon Aragon
Bowen James
Novice Extemporaneous Speaking
Semi-Finalists: Rowechen Zhong
Varsity Lincoln Douglas (LD) Debate
Semi-Finalists: Alice Zhang
Quarter-Finalists:
Davina Le
Alex Lee
Octo-Finalists:
Saavan Myneni
Vishal Narra
Varsity Public Forum (PF) Debate
Semi-Finalists: Harsha Rajesh – Frank Lai
Octo-Finalists:
Bernice Chen – Justin Xiao
Daniel Tehrani – Samit Deshmukh
I’m Poetry and Prose Editor for the Dreamcatcher literary magazine and this is my second year on Student Press. Outside of that I’m on the debate team,...
