Speech and Debate Participates in Grapevine and Leander Tournaments

Bernice Chen, Opinions Editor| September 10, 2019

  • Before the next round, Public Forum debaters at Leander prepare arguments. Photo courtesy of WHS Speech and Debate.

    Sruthi Ramaswamy
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  • In between rounds, Anoop Rachakonda ’22 shows Nathan Fang ’22 and Bryce Keeler ’21 an argument. Photo courtesy of WHS Speech and Debate.

    Bernice Chen
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  • While waiting for their results, debaters discuss the tournament. Photo courtesy of WHS Speech and Debate.

    Bernice Chen
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  • Partners Akhil Bhale ’22 and Joshua King ’22 pose with their semi-finalist medals. Photo courtesy of WHS Speech and Debate.

    Bernice Chen
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  • During their octo-finals round, Sruthi Ramaswamy ’20 asks questions to her opponent while Sidh Pandit ’21 prepares for his next speech. Photo courtesy of WHS Speech and Debate.

    Bernice Chen
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  • At the Grapevine Classic tournament, Frank Lai ’20, Sophia Wang ’21, Mika Freund ’21, and Harsha Rajesh ’20 take a photo together. Photo courtesy of WHS Speech and Debate.

    Sophia Wang
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To participate in their second and third tournaments this season, debaters gathered at Grapevine High School and Leander High School over the weekend. Many attended the Grapevine Classic, which lasted from Friday, Sep. 6 to Saturday, Sep. 7 and it was an opportunity for students to qualify for the national Tournament of Champions near the end of the year. Others competed at the Leander High School Tournament, earning points that would allow them to compete in the annual Texas Forensic Association state tournament.

The results of the two tournaments can be found below:

Leander
Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking
Semi-Finalists:

Srivaishnavi Mareddy
Hrushikesh Saranu
Sneha Bhale
Rishob Dasgupta
Pratik Neerukonda
Katie Falcon

Foreign Extemporaneous Speaking
1st Place: Sonny Stenson
Semi-Finalists: Lennon Aragon

Novice Extemporaneous Speaking
5th Place: Brian Jeon
8th Place: Ariana Velani
Semi-Finalists:

William Ruan
Lasya Adivi
Adarsh Ambekar
Prithiv Premkumar
Anya Yaksh
Tori Xiao
Olivia Yang
Brian Nam
Phoebe Taber
Riya Shah
Shreya Tiwari
Aaditya Ganesan
Jessamine Qu

Varsity Lincoln Douglas (LD) Debate
1st Place: Davina Le
Semi-Finalists: Eric Gao
Quarter-Finalists:

Anushka Saini
Anoop Rachakonda
Pranav Medikonduru

Varsity Policy (CX) Debate
Semi-Finalists: Katherine Yan – Ruhee Nemawarkar

Novice Lincoln Douglas (LD) Debate
Quarter-Finalists: Prithiv Premkumar

Varsity Public Forum (PF) Debate
Semi-Finalists: Akhil Bhale – Joshua King
Quarter-Finalists:

Sidh Pandit – Sruthi Ramasawamy
Daniel Velani – Pratik Neerukonda

Novice Public Forum (PF) Debate
Semi-Finalists: James Li – Warren Huang

Grapevine
Varsity Lincoln Douglas (LD) Debate
Octo-Finals: Alice Zhang
Double Octo-Finalists: Saavan Myneni

5th Place Speaker Award: Saavan Myneni​

Varsity Policy (CX) Debate
1st Place: Vikas Burugu – Daniel Shi
Double Octo-Finalists: Ananth Kumar – Jeffery You

4th Place Speaker Award: Vikas Burugu
3rd Place Speaker Award: Daniel Shi

Varsity Public Forum (PF) Debate
Octo-Finalists: Pranav Kulkarni – Anand Singh