Hendrickson/Pflugerville Swing on Aug. 31st and Sept. 1st
The Westlake Speech and Debate Team finished 2nd overall on the Hendrickson side of the swing!
Grapevine Classic on Sept. 7 & 8
Ali Slimi (left) and Miles Dintzner (right) advanced to the semifinal round and earned a TOC bid! David Morales (middle) is our consultant and was instrumental in helping the boys advance to semis.
Apple Valley MinneApple Tournament in Minneapolis on Nov. 2 & 3
These are the students who went to Minneapolis for the MinneApple tournament (from R-L): Andrew Lee, Jason Luo, Cassidy Reynolds, Miles Sigel, Preston Williams, Ali Slimi, Miles Dintzner, Michael Dodgin, Rachel Li, Nicolas Ho, Xuechen Yin, Owen Robertson, Anisha Reddy, Yasmine Daghestani.
The Glenbrooks Tournament in Chicago on Nov. 17, 18, 19
At the Glenbrooks Tournament just outside of Chicago, Junior Maddie Szoo won 4th place overall in Original Oratory. Maddie was competing against 160 of the top students in the country. Maddie also advanced to the semifinal round (the top 12 in the tournament) of Program Oral Interpretation. Senior Ali Slimi and Junior Miles Dintzner, and Senior Nicolas Ho and Sophomore Jason Luo advanced to the Double Octafinal round of Public Forum Debate. They earned a Silver TOC bid for this result. Sophomore Xuechen Yin and Junior Preston Williams compiled a 5-2 record in preliminary rounds and just missed advancing to elimination rounds.
Churchill Tournament in San Antonio, Jan. 11-12
The Winston Churchill High School TFA Tournament provided more amazing results for the Westlake Speech and Debate Team!
Seniors Miles Sigel and Michael Dodgin closed out the tournament with teammates Senior Ali Slimi and Junior Miles Dintzner in Public Forum Debate, which means they were the final two teams competing in the tournament! Closeouts are rare in the speech and debate world, so if you have a chance, please congratulate these students on an incredible achievement. Junior Maddie Szoo semifinaled in Original Oratory, Program Oral Interpretation, and Informative Speaking. At such a competitive tournament, advancing to one semifinal is an accomplishment, let alone three! Senior Amanda Chen and Junior Andrew Lee advanced to the Double Octafinal round of Lincoln Douglas Debate. Senior Nicolas Ho and Sophomore Jason Luo advanced to the Octafinal round of PF. Jason Luo finished 2nd place speaker overall in PF.
Seniors Miles Sigel and Michael Dodgin closed out the tournament with teammates Senior Ali Slimi and Junior Miles Dintzner in Public Forum Debate, which means they were the final two teams competing in the tournament! Closeouts are rare in the speech and debate world, so if you have a chance, please congratulate these students on an incredible achievement. Junior Maddie Szoo semifinaled in Original Oratory, Program Oral Interpretation, and Informative Speaking. At such a competitive tournament, advancing to one semifinal is an accomplishment, let alone three! Senior Amanda Chen and Junior Andrew Lee advanced to the Double Octafinal round of Lincoln Douglas Debate. Senior Nicolas Ho and Sophomore Jason Luo advanced to the Octafinal round of PF. Jason Luo finished 2nd place speaker overall in PF.
Harvard Invitational in Cambridge, MA Feb. 16, 17, 18
The weekend of February 16 – 18, a group of 16 students on the team earned participation in a national tournament at Harvard held on their campus in Cambridge, Mass. In Speech, Junior Maddie Szoo advanced to octafinals in Original Oratory. In Public Forum, Seniors Rachel Li and Owen Robertson advanced to double octafinals, Seniors Miles Sigel and Michael Dodgin advanced to triple octafinals. The following teams went 4-2 in preliminary rounds in Public Forum: Senior Ali Slimi and Junior Miles Dintzner, Seniors Anisha Reddy and Yasmine Daghestani, Senior Nicolas Ho and Sophomore Jason Luo, Sophomore Xuechen Yin and Junior Preston Williams. In Lincoln Douglas Junior Andrew Lee went 4-2 and Seniors Amanda Chen and Shampurna Mitra went 3-3.
NSDA District Tournament at McNeil HS on March 1-2
The weekend of March 1 – 2, team members attended the National Speech and Debate Association Heart of Texas District Tournament at McNeil High School in Austin. Westlake won the Debate Sweepstakes award, which is awarded to the team with the most combined points in debate events! Also, three students qualified for the NSDA National Finals to be held in Dallas, TX in June 2019: Senior Ali Slimi and Sophomore Jason Luo finished first in Public Forum Debate. Ali and Jason did not lose a round during the entire tournament! Junior Maddie Szoo finished 3rd in Program Oral Interpretation, and advanced to the final round of Original Oratory. Making the finals in two events at such a competitive tournament is an amazing feat!
TFA State Tournament in Houston on March 14-16
Senior Ali Slimi and Junior Miles Dintzner are the 2019 TFA State Champions in Public Forum Debate!!!!
At the Texas Forensic Association's State Tournament, held at Alief Taylor High School in Houston on March 14-16, Senior Ali Slimi and Junior Miles Dintzner won the entire tournament in Public Forum Debate, earning the sixth TFA State Championship in Westlake's history in a main event. In Original Oratory, Junior Maddie Szoo advanced to the Semifinal Round and competed with the top 18 speakers in Texas. Maddie has had a tremendous year, full of incredible accomplishments, and this is yet another for which Maddie and Westlake can be proud. In Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Junior Andrew Lee advanced to the Double Octafinal Round (round of 32). Andrew has also had a successful year, so this result isn't surprising given the amount of hard work that he has put into his event. In addition to Ali and Miles' achievement in Public Forum Debate, Senior Rachel Li and Senior Owen Robertson advanced to the Triple Octafinal Round (round of 64), and Senior Nicolas Ho and Sophomore Jason Luo advanced to the Double Octafinal Round. The fact that Westlake had three teams in the top 64 is a testament to these students' focus and effort both leading up to and during the tournament.
The Tournament of Champions in Lexington, KY on April 27, 28, 29
At one of the most competitive tournaments in the United States, Senior Ali Slimi and Junior Miles Dintzner followed up their TFA State Championship in March with another solid performance at the Tournament of Champions in Lexington, Kentucky. Ali and Miles won 5 of their preliminary rounds and advanced to the Octofinal round (top 16) in the Gold Division of Public Forum Debate. Yet another incredible accomplishment by these two students, Ali and Miles have established themselves as one of the best debate teams in the nation. Sophomores Xuechen Yin and Jason Luo also won 5 of their preliminary rounds advanced to the Double Octofinal round in the Silver Division of Public Forum. As most of the students competing at the TOC are juniors and seniors, this is a remarkable result for these talented sophomores.
The NSDA National Tournament in Dallas, TX on June 16-21
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At the final tournament of the 2018-2019 season, the NSDA National Tournament, Senior Ali Slimi and Sophomore Jason Luo dropped only one ballot in the six preliminary rounds of the tournament and advanced to the ninth round of Public Forum Debate. As these two debaters had not debated competitively during the season, this is an amazingly impressive result. Junior Maddie Szoo advanced to the sixth round of Expository Speaking after competing in POI. Maddie was one of the final 24 students in Expository Speaking. Another successful tournament for the Westlake Speech and Debate Team!
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