2006-07 Tournament Results

Lake Highland Speech and Debate Team
2006-2007 Tournament Results

21) CFL Grand Finals @ Timber Creek HS (Orlando): Friday-Saturday March 9-10, 2007: Whilst Lake Highland's graduation eliminates participation from all of our seniors and most of our juniors, we still managed to show well at the CFL National Qualifier this weekend. And here are the qualifiers and alternates to this year's CAT NATS.

*Luca Ferrara (LD)
*Andrew Bodiford (1st Alternate - LD)
*Greg Whitehurst (2nd Alternate - LD)
*Risha Asokan (EXT)
*Bilal Shaukat (EXT)
*Chase Sanders (Congress)
*Charlie Doyle (Congress)
*Michael McGinn (1st Alternate - Congress)
*Allie Pridmore (OO)
*Alexa Lytle (OO)
*Samantha Perrotta (1st Alternate - OO)
*Stephanie Harduvel (2nd Alternate - OO)
*Rory McNamara (DP)
*Rachel Baker (DP)
*Sanika Dange (OI)
*Brian Taussig (OI)
*Cherilyn Gordon/Rachel Holderbach (DUO)

20) Harvard University (February 16-20, 2007). Lake Highland again competed in the exceedingly large Harvard Invitational, featuring nearly 3,000 competitors from over 500 schools across the country. Highlights:
*Most of the highlights this year were generated from the Oratory squad. Lake Highland placed 3 Oratories in the top 12 out of over 330 competitors. Senior Rachel Pohl, in her most impressive outing of the season, finished 7th overall. Junior Phoebe Enstad finished in 9th overall and solidified herself in the top 20 in the nation in OO. And Senior Moonlighter JR Thorsen shocked the planet by Winning the whole thing. JR is our 2nd Harvard Champion in as many years.
*Chase Sanders and Lauren Rutledge advanced to the Semifinals of a 500-member strong Student Congress
*Rachel Baker advanced to Quarterfinals of DI
*Jordan Rubin, in his first LD tournament ever finished with a 5-1 record and advanced to Triple-Octafinals in JV LD. Greg Whitehurst finished with a 4-2 record
*Senior Michael Saldarriaga finished with a 5-1 record, knocked out two TOC competitors in preliminaries and lost on a 2-1 decision in Triple Octafinals
*Senior Sophie Grace finished with a 4-2 and advanced to Triple Octafinals.
*Najeeb Khuda and Alyson Promes finished with 4-2 records and missed out on breaks by speaker points.

19)Stanford University: (February 10-12, 2007) Palo Alto, CA. Our LD team traveled to the prestigious Stanford University Invitational, one of the most "circuity" LD tournaments on the calendar. Highlights:
*Senior JR Thorsen was awarded top speaker in a tournament featuring over 275 competitors. He was 5-1 in preliminaries, 5th seed overall, and advanced to the Double-Octafinals of competition.
*Junior Hana Ahmed finished with a 4-2 record and advanced to the Top 48 round of competition.
*Seniors Sophie Grace and Najeeb Khuda finished 4-2 and were speaker points away from breaking
*Freshman Andrew Bodiford finished with a 4-2 record and finished in the top 25 out of 180 JV Lincoln-Douglas Competitors.

18) Emory University: Atlanta, GA (January 27-29, 2007) *The Top Personnel in the Nation Competed at the Annual Emory Unversity Touranament featuring over 2000 competitors from 350 schools from 35 states. Highlights:
*Rory McNamara was declared CHAMPION of Oral Interpretation. This is Lake Highland's 2nd Champion at this prestigious Tournament
*Senior Pierre Elias finished his career in Style with tying his career best finish in Extemporaneous Speaking. Pierre finished the competition in 3rd Place overall against the Nation's best Extempers.
*Junior Chase Sanders earned his 6th TOC bid of the year by advancing to the final round of competition in Student Congress.
*Other note-worthy breaks: Sanika Dange and Rachel Baker: Quarterfinals in OI. McNamara in Quarterfinals of DI, Baker in Semifinals of DI, Phoebe Enstad in Semifinals of Oratory and Senior Hilary Whitworth in Quarterfinals of Oratory.

17) NFCFL Qualifier #4 at Winter Park High School: The team's youth traveled to Winter Park for the fourth installment of the CFL League Qualifier. Here are the list of award winners:
*David Miller and Krishen Patel (who was in his first-ever tournament) finished with a 4-0 record in Public Forum Debate
*Chase Sanders finished in 2nd Place in Student Congress, while Lauren Rutledge finished in 3rd Place
*Varun Hippalgaonkar finished in 1st place in a tightly contested Extemp field.
*Samantha Perrotta finished in 1st Place in Original Oratory while Freshman Allie Pridmore finished in 2nd Place
*Rory McNamara won Dramatic Performance, while Alyssa Rossman-Rorman finished in 3rd.
*Brian Taussig won Oral Interpretation
*And the Freshman Duo of Cherilyn Gordon and Rachel Holderbach won Novice Duo Interpretation.

Congratulations to all of the competitors and thanks to the parents who volunteered to judge and chaperone.

16) The Crestian Classic @ Pinecrest, Fort Lauderdale: January 12-14, 2007: The team recorded one of its best performances in School History at this year's Crestian. Tournament featured competition from more than 20 states, 1000 competitors from 100 or more schools. Lake Highland won both the debate and individual event sweepstakes.

Here are the highlights:
*Policy Debate: Arianna Guzman was awarded 6th speaker overall in the tournament.

*LD dominated the event. All 8 competitors recorded 4-2 records or better. 6 advanced to elimination rounds. 4 received Tournament of champions bids.

*Senior JR Thorsen claimed his 2nd Consecutive Championship at the Crestian (he had a piece of a third championship). He went a perfect 11-0 record throughout the tournament.

*Senior Michael Saldarriaga advanced to the Semifinal round and received his first TOC bid of the season
*Senior Najeeb Khuda advanced to the Quarterfinal round and received his 2nd TOC bid of the season. He will Join JR in Kentucky at the annual Tournament of Champions featuring the top 70 debaters in the country
*Sophomore Gurdane Bhutani advanced to Octafinals, where he was coached over. He earned his 2nd TOC bid at his 2nd ever Varsity tournament. He is the first sophomore in school history to qualify for the tournament of champions. He may be the first LD debater in history to complete his qualification in his first two varsity tournaments.
*Senior Sophie Grace advanced to the Octafinal round of competition. It is her fourth bid round of the debate season
*Alyson Promes advanced to double-octafinals before being coached over for Sophie Grace. She has been in break rounds of every competition she has entered this year.
*Hana Ahmed finished with a 4-2 record and was 34th seed in the tournament. She was .23 speaker points from elimination rounds
*Luca Ferrara finished with a 4-2 record and was 36th seed in the tournament. He was .5 speaker points from elimination rounds.
*All in all, the performance at Crestian has put Lake Highland LD in esteemed company. 3 fully qualified TOC competitors. 10 team TOC bids is only one short of the school record.
*Student Congress

*Junior Charlie Doyle advanced to the final round of competition in the tournament's largest field
*Chase Sanders, Lauren Rutledge, Kate Woska, and Michael McGinn advanced to semifinals of competition.

*Extemp had one of its strongest performances of the season:
*Junior Varun Hippalgaonkar was declared Champion of International Extemp, while Senior teammate Jordan Rubin finished in 3rd Place
*Senior Pierre Elias finished in third place in domestic extemp, while Bilal Shaukat and Shaz Jafri advanced to Semifinals.

*In Original Oratory, Junior sensation Phoebe Enstad finished in 4th place overall in an extremely talented field, while Hilary Whitworth advanced to quarterfinals.

*In Oral Interpretation, Brian Taussig and Sanika Dange advanced to Semifinals, while Rachel Baker advanced to quarterfinals
*In Dramatic Interp, Rachle Baker placed 5th (her 10 cumulative ranks had her in a 3-way tie for third place), Rory McNamara advanced to semifinals while novice Alyssa Rossman-Rorman made it to Quarterfinals

*And in Duo Interpretation, the team of Alexa Lytle and Rory McNamara advanced to Quarterfinals.

Tons of Awards, Great Success!! Wa Wa Wee Wa! Thanks to those parents who volunteered to steer the team clear of the evil that surfaces from time to time.

The Public Forum Debaters. Many who competed, did so for the first time at the Crestian.

Pierre beams with pride after the awards program.

Team "posers" after awards assembly.

Charles Doyle.

Oratories Rachel Pohl, Hilary Whitworth, and 4th Place finisher Phoebe Enstad

It's not possession, it's just a really serious picture.

Representatives of Fast-Food Nation.

What is a ladies man?

Senior Oratory Captainnes Hilary and Rachel.

Who is more Gangta'? The best hip hop tandem since Milli Vanilli.

Ladies Man - Part Deux

Sensation Rory McNamara and Phoebe Enstad.

LD issue fatwah on the camera.

15) The Patriot Games Classic @ George Mason University, Virginia: December 1-3, 2006: The team traveled to George Mason University, which is becoming one of the Atlantic Coast's most competitive Invidual Events tournaments. Of the 80 or so teams that competed, Lake Highland chalked up another sweepstakes trophy by finishing 5th overall in the tournament. Among the accomplishments:

Team Photo after Awards Assembly.

*In Student Congress, Charlie Doyle proved yet again that he has arrived as one of the nation's top competitors, finishing in 6th place overall.
*In Extemporaneous Speaking, Pierre Elias and Risha Asokan both advanced to Quarterfinals.
*In Original Oratory, Hilary Whitworth, Rachel Pohl, and Freshman Allie Pridmore advanced to Semifinals, while Senior Oratory Giant JR Thorsen finished in 2nd Place. JR has been in final rounds of both Oratory tournaments that he has competed in.
*In Humorous Interp, Rory McNamara finished in 6th Place overall.
*In Prose Interp, Brian Taussig had the strongest showing of his young career, finishing in 4th place overall. Sanika Dange advanced to Quarterfinals in both Prose and Poetry.
*In Impromptu Speaking, Paige Rubin advanced to the final round, finishing in 7th Place overall.
*And the Public Forum Team of Chase Sanders and Pierre Elias advanced to the Quarterfinal Round of competition. They were 3rd Seed out of prelims.

*Special Thanks to all those who helped out with the tournament.

Alexa Lytle, Allie Pridmore, and Sanika Dange pose for picture while JR "looks on."

Erica Castelo and Risha Asokan share an intimate moment.

Paige Rubin and Danielle Thibault scare the hell out of fellow travelers.

JR Thorsen with Colonial Hero George Mason

Bob Marks contemplates the good.

Rachel Pohl, Hilary Whitworth, Risha Asokan, and Erica Castelo.

Paige Rubin re-enacts the fall of Communism in the Ukraine.

Rachel Pohl announces her engagement to Local Troubadour.

Teammates display the loot from an overturned Toys R Us Truck.

Hilary Whitworth and Danielle Thibault pose with Rachel Pohl's new finacee.

New BFFs Erica Castelo and Risha Asokan share a little ice cream and a whole lot of happiness.

14) The Glenbooks: Chicago, IL November 17-20, 2006: Glenbrooks is the largest High School-hosted event in the nation and the most competitive tournament on the calendar, featuring over 400 teams nation-wide and over 2000 competitors from every state in the country. A list of accomplishments:
Varsity Lincoln-Douglas
*Senior JR Thorsen continued his assault on the debate record books advancing to the Octafinal Round (top 16) out of over 220 competitors. JR picked up his 4th tournament of Champions bid of the season making him the all-time leader in TOC bids at Lake Highland. JR also was selected among the top 12 LDers in the country to be invited to the prestigious MBA Round Robin in Nashville Tennessee in January.
*Senior Sophie Grace finished with a respectable 4-3 preliminary record.
*In Student Congress, Junior Kate Woska advanded to the Final Round of Competition, while Lauren Rutledge, Chase Sanders, and Charlie Doyle all advanced to the Semifinals.
*In Extemporaneous Speaking, Junior Shaz Jafri advanced to Semifinals while Varun Hippalgaonkar advanced to Quarterfinals
*In Original Oratory, Junior Samantha Perrotta was our lone competitor in Finals placing in 5th place overall in the tournament. Hilary Whitworth advanced to Quarterfinals
*In Oral Interpretation, both Sanika Dange and Rachel Baker advanced to Quarterfinals
*In Dramatic Interpretation, both Rory McNamara and Danielle Thibault advanced to Quarterfinals
*Out of over 400 teams in the tournament, the team finished in 11th place overall in Individual Sweepstakes and was only 30 total points out of the top 3.

Pierre Elias, the "luckiest man on earth." Charlie Doyle sleeps off his RC hangover.

Jordan Rubin gets hexed by an on-looker from the Stevenson Expressway

Gypsy Sophie Grace tries to remove the hex from Jordan Rubin's eye by summoning the spirits of old country olive oil.
*Special Thanks to Ken Baker, Georgia and Mark Perrotta, Joan Pohl, and countless others who helped chaperone a nearly seamless trip.

13) 2nd CFL Qualifier @ Gainesville Eastside High School: November 11th, 2006): A list of accomplishments at the latest district installment:

*Extemporaneous Speaking: Sophomore Bilal Shaukat and Sophomore Risha Asokan finished 1 and 2 in the tournament, respectively.
*Dramatic Performance: Freshman Ben Patz finished in 3rd Place
*Duo Interp: Rory McNamara and Alexa Lytle were CHAMPIONS of the event.
*Oral Interp: Michelle Edwards finished in 3rd Place, while Sanika Dange finished in 4th Place
*Original Oratory: Phoebe Enstad finished in 2nd Place while Samantha Perrotta finished in 3rd Place

*Special Thanks to all of the parents who accompanied the team up to Gainesville.

12) Hendrick Hudson Bump Invitational (Westchester, NY: November 10-11, 2006): One of the Northeast's most celebrated Debate-only tournaments, Lake Highland had one of its most complete debate tournaments in history. The tournament features three divisions: Policy Debate, Varsity Lincoln-Douglas Debate, and Public Forum Debate.

*In Policy Debate, the team of Claire Ziegler and Arianna Guzman finished with a 7-2 overall record and advanced to the Final Round of Competition. This is the deepest finish in Policy Debate in over 6 years for LHP. Arianna was awarded 5th speaker overall in the tournament and Claire was 9th speaker.
*In Public Forum Debate, the team of Jordan Rubin and Shaz Jafri gave LHP its first PFD championship in national compeition. They had a perfect 9-0 record.

Jordan Rubin and Shaz Jafri celebrate their victory with a Hi'Five and rendition of the Kazakhstani National Anthem

*In Lincoln-Douglas: Senior Najeeb Khuda all but clinched his birth to the Tournament of champions by advancing to Quarterfinals and picking up his first TOC bid of the season. He had a 5-1 preliminary record and was the tournament's 5th Speaker. Senior Sophie Grace picked up her 2nd partial-TOC bid of the season and advanced to Octafinals, while Hana Ahmed broke at her fourth consecutive tournament of the season, clearing to Double-Octafinals. Senior Michael Saldarriaga continued his trend of being the 33rd seed of the tournament, missing break rounds by 1 speaker point once again, and Luca Ferrara finished the tournament with a fairly respectable 3-3 record.

Senior Najeeb Khuda looks for vengeance.

Senior Sophie Grace with another Partial-Bid Celebrates her achievement along with Hana and one of Jim Menick's famous Crappy Prizes (awarded to Double-Octafinalists)

Overall, LHP cleared 7 of its 10 competitors and tallied a tournament championship, a tournament runner-up, a TOC bid, a partial TOC bid and marked its territory as one of the nation's most complete debate programs yet again.

Hana Ahmed looks over her Cases before the tournament.

Jordan Rubin, Claire Ziegler, Arianna Guzman, and Michael Saldarriaga waiting for their flight.

*Special Thanks to the Eliot family and Laura Ziegler for their seamless leadership at this tournament.

11) Minneapple Invitational @Apple Valley HS, Minnesota: November 3-5, 2006: The Minneapple Invitational is the largest Lincoln-Douglas only tournament in the country and featured over 300 competitors across three divisions from more than 30 states. Here are the highlights:
*In Varsity Lincoln-Douglas, Senior Captain JR Thorsen continued his assault on all of the school's LD record books. He finished the preliminaries with a 6-1 record, was the tournament's TOP SPEAKER, and advanced to the Semifinal Round of competition (3rd out of 170 competitors). He earned his 3rd TOC bid in 4 tries and solidified his top 5 national ranking.
*Fellow Senior Najeeb Khuda finished with a 5-2 preliminary record and advanced to the Double-Octafinal round (top 32) for the 2nd year in a row. He earned his second partial-TOC bid.
*In Junior Varsity, Sophomore Gurdane Bhutani finished preliminaries with a 5-1 record and advanced to the Octafinal Round (top 16) of competition, while sophomore Greg Whitehurst finished with a 4-2 preliminary record and missed the break rounds by 1 speaker point.
*And in the Novice Division, Freshman Andrew Bodiford was the tournament's 3rd ranked speaker and finished with a 3-3 record.

10) The 26th Annual Florida Blue Key Tournament: October 26-29, 2006: Over 1200 competitors and over 120 schools competed in this year's addition of the Florida Blue Key. Lake Highland Traveled over 50 competitors for the first time in its history, the largest team it has ever fielded in competition. Here are the highlights:

Varun, Pierre, Jordan, and Shaz show off their collective IQ as team celebrates Radow Cup and 3rd Place Sweepstakes finish.

*In Policy Debate: The team of Claire Ziegler and Arianna Guzman finished 9th overall and advanced to the partial-Octafinal (top 12) round of competition. They lost on a 2-1 decision from the eventual champion of the tournament from Milton, Georgia.

Claire and Arianna pose at awards assembly.
*In Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Lake Highland advanced 8 of its 9 competitors to out-rounds. When Policy is included, Lake Highland had a 90% break rate at this year's Florida Blue Key. That is the best we've ever done and we've done pretty good.
*In the Novice Lincoln-Douglas the Fabulous Frosh all advanced to outrounds. Kudrit Kahlon led the way advancing to Quarterfinals. Abby Wray advanced to Octafinals, while Philip Deuchler and Bryan Whitehurst advanced to Double-Octafinals.
*In Varsity, Wondertwins Alyson Promes and Hana Ahmed, along with Senior Sophie Grace all advanced and then DROPPED LIKE STONES in the double-octafinals (top 32), while one of the major surprises of the tournament, Sophomore Gurdane Bhutani,

Gurdane Bhutani displays his semifinalist trophy in Varsity LD
in his first-ever varsity tournament, advanced to Semifinals and received a TOC bid. This is the 2nd Time in as many years that a sophomore has earned a TOC bid in their first Varsity tournament (wonder twin Hana did it last year at Crestian). Gurdane knocked off 4 nationally-ranked debaters on his march to semis.
*Student Congress: Lake Highland advanced 6 of its competitors out of preliminaries. Chase Sanders, Andrew Smith, Anand Deshpande, Kate Woska, and Chip Sinton advanced to Semifinals, while Junior Charlie Doyle advanced to the Super Congress session (top 24 out of over 320 competitors). All earned a leg to this years Congress tournament of champions.

Pierre Elias, Hilary Whitworth, Varun Hippalgaonkar, Shaz Jafri, and Tarun Mathur

*In Foreign Extemp: Shaz Jafri and Varun Hippalgaonkar placed in 2nd and 3rd place respectively in Lake Highland's best one-two showing since the 2003 Crestian in Extemp, while Pierre Elias advanced to Semifinals and Jordan Rubin advanced to Quarterfinals.

Shaz Jafri and Varun Hippalgaonkar at awards assembly.

*In Domestic Extemp: Shaz Jafri recorded the rare and impressive double-final, by placing 5th overall in the event. Varun Hippalgaonkar advanced to semifinals, while fan favorite Jeeten Jamnadas advanced to Quarterfinals.

Tatum Drazen, Traci Gordon, Brian Taussig, Phoebe Enstad, and Stephanie Harduvel
*In all, Extemp advanced 7 of its twelve entries to outrounds.
*In Original Oratory, while not duplicating last year's success, the team still had standout performances. Phoebe Enstad was one of the brightest lights at the tournament, advancing to Semifinals along with Alexa Lytle. Seniors Rachel Pohl and Hilary Whitworth, along with sophomore Paige Rubin advanced to Quarterfinals.

Stephanie Haruvel and Allie Pridmore
*In Interp, our lone finalist was the Duo team of Rory McNamara and Alexa Lytle who finished in 6th Place overall.

Rory McNamara, Rachel Baker, Sanika Dange, and Alexa Lytle

Patrick Hurlburt gestures camera man to back off for "two separate reasons"

*In Humorous Interp, Rory McNamara advanced to Semifinals, while Patrick Hurlburt and Freshman Ben Patz advanced to Quarterfinals.
*In Dramatic Interp, Sophomore Rachel Baker advanced to Semifinals, while Freshman Rachel Holderbach advanced to Quarterfinals

Duo Tandem Brian Taussig and Michelle Edwards

*And in Oral Interp, Sophomore Sanika Dange and Junior Tatum Drazen advanced to Semifinals, while Rachel Baker advanced to Quarterfinals.

Oratory Semifinalists Phoebe Enstad and Alexa Lytle

Andrew Smith asks Risha Asokan if she's "tried the Italian"

Paige Rubin and Risha Asokan celebrate with a rare intimate moment.

Rory McNamara continues his assault on his Duo Partner.

Ben Patz laments the death of the "Little old Lady"

Tatum Drazen and Alyssa Rossman-Rorman with Brian Taussig sneaking into the picture.

Phoebe Enstad and Kate Woska at a campaign rally for Senate Candidate Katherine Harris.

Clockwise: Rory McNamara prepares for his HI semifinal; Gurdane receives his award sideways, Patrick performs The Producers with Harrison Gordon stand-in, and Brian Taussig shows Michelle Edwards and others how to count to ten.
Of Lake Highland's 51 competitors, 33 of them advanced to break rounds. This performance earned the team two major awards. Lake Highland was the recipient of the prestigious Radow Cup, awarded to the team with the most breaks in Extemp, Oratory, LD, and Policy, and a 3rd Place finish in the overall team sweepstakes. Special thanks to Jim and Carol Lytle, Pam Jafri, Robin Eliot, Terri Sanders, Chris Sprouse, Jennifer Sanders, Wesley Conner, Ben Patz, Mark Wray, Ken Baker, William Sinton, Dipika Jamnadas, Bob Marks, and Mike Jakubisin who gave up their weekend to judge and chaperone this tournament. Thanks for helping the team to one of its finest performances.

Team Photo after the awards assembly. Red-Eyed Jordan Rubin summons the forces of evil.

9) Bronx Invitational Bronx HS, New York City: October 13-15, 2006): (Pictures Forthcoming): A handful of our top LD, Policy,and Public Forum Debaters traveled to New York City for one of the nation's most storied tournaments, the Bronx Invitational, which has recently been resurrection by Tournament Director, Jon Cruz. This year's addition recaptured some of the magic of old, by bringing in some of the strongest competition from all over the country. Here are the results from Lake Highland's Contingent.

Jordan Rubin, Sophie Grace, and Michael Saldarriaga in preparation for the tournament.
*Senior Captain JR Thorsen completed one of the most productive and impressive weekends of his debate Career. JR WON the Coveted Peter Colavito Award given to the Tournaments TOP SPEAKER and also received an award by advancing to Quarterfinals of the Tournament. JR was also featured among the top 15 in the nation in the Annual Bronx Round Robin. JR was declared CHAMPION of that event. JR returned to Florida with a collection of the most impressive hardware awarded at Forensics Tournaments. (Besides a food connoisseur, Jon Cruz is also a very generous tournament host when it comes to awards).

JR Thorsen tells Claire Ziegler one of Norway's "dirtiest jokes"
*In other Action, the Junior Wonder Twins, Alyson Promes and Hana Ahmed took their impressive 5-1 preliminary records into the break rounds. Both advanced to Double-Octafinals (top 32)

Hana Ahmed and a napping Bennett Garfinkel

*The Team of Claire Ziegler and Arianna Guzman finished the tournament with a 4-2 record and missed breaks by speaker points.
*The Team of Jordan Rubin and Shaz Jafri finished with a 4-2 record, but didn't have the speaks to clear either. They finished 9th, break was at Quarters. Jordan and Shaz were also participants in the first-ever Bronx Public Forum Round Robin and picked up ballots against some of the nation's most acclaimed public forum teams.

8) Liberty Bell Classic @ University of Pennsylvania (October 6-8, 2006)
The team traveled some of its best Individual Event and Student Congress Competitors against many of the Northeastern United States elite teams. The Team's success earned a 2nd Place finish overall in team sweepstakes and once again establishes LHP's reputation as one of the strongest teams in the United States. Here are the Highlights:

Team Photo with individual Awards and 2nd Place Sweepstakes Trophy. (Varun Hippalgaonkar declared
Tournament's "Most Congenial")

Members of the Team chill out with some of the kids from Holy Ghost Prep. (Holy Ghost declared member of the Trinity in 325 AD)
*In Student Congress: Junior Chase Sanders advanced to the final round of competition and finished in 3rd Place overall. It was Chase's best finish yet amongst national competition and is Student Congress's 2nd top 3 finish in two national tournaments. Charlie Doyle and Michael McGinn also advanced to the final round of competition and both tied for 7th place overall. It too was Michael and Charlie's best finish in national competiton.

Charlie Doyle, Chase Sanders, and Michael McGinn (Charlie looks to acquire Michael's Lunch Money)
*In Extemporaneous Speaking, Seniors Pierre Elias and Jordan Rubin advanced to the final round of competition with Pierre finishing in 3rd Place overall (his best finish ever and his first final round) and Jordan in 4th Place. Juniors Shaz Jafri and Varun Hippalgaonkar advanced to the Semifinals.

Seniors Jordan Rubin and Pierre Elias. "The Sun is so bright, man."
*In Duo Interpretation, the team of Rory McNamara and Alexa Lytle advanced to the final round and finished in 4th place overall.

Rory spent 14 hours in a Philadelphia jail because of this attempted bludgeoning of his Duo Partner.

Team Photo while Senior Extemper Jordan Rubin daydreams about German Prime Minister
Angela Merkel and Michael McGinn requests his lunch money back from team bully, Charlie
Doyle..
*In Dramatic Performance, sophomore Danielle Thibault advanced to the final round, finishing in 6th place overall. Junior Rory McNamara advanced to semifinals.

Team Celebrates Sanika's Birthday by purchasing some Giant Letters
*In Oral Interpretation, all 3 of our competitors, Sophomores Rachel Baker, Sanika Dange, and Brian Taussig, advanced to Quarterfinals in the event.

Oratory Stephanie Harduvel and Oratory/Duo Freestyla' Alexa Lytle
*And in Original Oratory, Junior Samantha Perrotta advanced to the final round of competition, placing 6th place overall. And Senior Captain JR Thorsen, in his first-ever tournament in Original Oratory, advanced to Semifinals, and if not for a gross tabulation error, would've been in finals. (JR was the third highest seed out of semifinals, but was overlooked).

Philadelphia PD Mugshot Photo of LHP Orator Samantha Perrotta with
her weapon of choice at local retirement centers.

Special Thanks to Terri Sanders, Pam and Khalid Jafri, and Carol Rubin for enduring the weekend.

7) Trinity Prep NFCFL Qualifier #1 (Orlando, FL: Saturday October 7th). For many, this was their first competitive tournament. The Highlights:
In Lincoln-Douglas Debate: Freshmen Kudrit Kahlon and Bryan Whitehurst had 3-1 preliminary records and finished in the top 10. 2nd Year Debater Greg Whitehurst also finished with a 3-1 record and top 10 finish while Freshman Abby Wray was 7th speaker overall in the Varsity-only division.
In Public Forum Debate: The team of Arianna Guzman and Gurdane Bhutani were awarded 3rd Place overall and were top Speakers in a tournament that featured over 30 competitors.
In Novice Dramatic Performance: Freshman Ben Patz was declared CHAMPION of the division, while Freshman Rachel Holderbach finished in 2nd.
In Original Oratory: Not to be outdone, Traci Gordon and Phoebe Enstad replicated the 1-2 finish.
In Oral Interp: Tatum Drazen finished as the tournament's Runner-Up
In Student Congress: Janek Jakubisin, Niki Thadani, Nick Smith, and Anand Deshpande, while not placing in the top 3, were all in the top 6 on judges ballots.

6)Mid-America Cup @ Valley High School (Des Moines, Iowa: September 28-30, 2006): The Lincoln-Douglas Squad competed against many of the nation's best at the Mid-America Cup: Here are some of the highlights:
*Senior Captain JR Thorsen once again proved to be among the nation's elite. He finished as the tournament's runner-up in a field of over 140 competitors nation-wide and earned his 2nd TOC bid of the season. JR is now fully qualified for the Kentucky tournament of Champions and shares honors with legendary Josh Marshall as our team's earliest TOC qualifier. JR is among the top 10 LD debaters in the United States.
*Senior LD Captain Najeeb Khuda finished with a 5-1 preliminary record, and advanced to the Octafinal round of competition. His only 2 losses were to top 10 national competitors. He earned yet another partial-TOC bid.
*Senior Sophie Grace continued her streak of advancing to break-rounds by earning a spot in the double-octafinals (top 32)
*Junior sensation Hana Ahmed, among the top underclassmen in the nation, finished preliminaries with a 5-1 record and advanced to the double-octafinals of competition (top 32).

1) Winter Springs High School Invitational (September 9th-10th, 2006): The 2006-07 speech and debate team kicked off in style with a strong showing at the Winter Springs Early-bird Invitational, featuring the best speech/debate programs from around Florida. The team had its share of success. Here are the highlights:

The Team poses with their share of the awards after the assembly on Saturday.

Claire Ziegler (3rd Speaker - Policy Debate)
Claire Ziegler and Arianna Guzman (Semifinalists - Policy Debate)
Bennett Garfinkel (2nd Speaker - Lincoln-Douglas Debate)
Bennett Garfinkel and Gurdane Bhutani (Co-Champions of Varsity Lincoln-Douglas Debate)
Abby Wray (Champion - Novice Lincoln-Douglas Debate)
Bryan Whitehurst (3rd Place - Novice LD)
Philip Deuchler (5th Place - Novice LD)
Jordan Rubin (Champion - Domestic Extemp)
Varun Hippalgaonkar (Runner up - Domestic Extemp)
Jeeten Jamnadas (4th Place - Foreign Extemp)
Shaz Jafri (Runner Up - Foreign Extemp)
Risha Asokan (5th Place - Foreign Extemp)

Extempers Varun Hippalgaonkar, Jordan Rubin, Shaz Jafri, Risha Asokan, and Jeeten Jamnadas.

Rachel Pohl (Runner Up - Original Oratory)
Samantha Perrotta (5th Place - Original Oratory)
Hilary Whitworth (Semifinalist - Original Oratory)

Rachel Pohl, Hilary Whitworth, and Samantha Perrotta

Rachel Baker (Semifinalist - OI)
Danielle Thibault (6th Place - OI)
Rory McNamara and Alexa Lytle (Runner-Up - Duo)

Rory McNamara and Alexa with their 2nd Place Tropies in Duo Interpretation.

2) Vassar Round Robin (September 8th-10th, 2006): Hana Ahmed was one of 16 underclassmen (among the top undergraduates in the United States) to compete in this year's addition of the Vassar Round Robin. A Couple of photographs of the tournament in Poughkeepsie, New York. Special Thanks to Ms. Tracy Bessire who judged and chaperoned the trip.

Hana Ahmed with the other Vassar Round Robin Competitors. Tournament Director Jon Cruz is front and center.

Hana and Mr. Clemens with Ravi Sankar (Trinity Prep RS) and his coach, Petey Gil

Ms. Bessire, Hana Ahmed, and Mr. Clemens

3) Greenhill Invitational and Round Robin (September 15-19, 2006). Senior Captain JR Thorsen, accompanied by the venerable Patrick Fitch, was our Lone Participant in the Lone Star State over the weekend and the prestigious Greenhill Invitational. JR was also selected among the top 16 debaters in the United States to compete in the Greenhill Round Robin which began after the initial tournament. In the Invitational itself, featuring the top LD talent in the U.S. JR emerged out of Preliminaries with a perfect 6-0 record, 2nd Seed, and Earned his first Tournament of Champions Bid of the season by advancing to the Octa-Final Round of Competition. No report as of yet of the outcome of the Round Robin, but we'll keep you posted.

4) Wake Forest Invitational (September 14-17, 2006): Mr. Chris Sprouse and Ms. Val Woska accompanied a contingent of LHP's Finest Policy, LD, and Congressional Debaters to the annual Wake Forest Early-Bird Invitational. And Here are the Highlights.
*The Policy Tandem of Claire Ziegler and Arianna Guzman finished with a respectable 3-3 record against the toughest Varsity competition in the country.
*The LD fearsome threesome shined as well this weekend. Junior Alyson Promes and Senior Sophie Grace earned partial bids to the Tournament of Champions and advanced to the Octafinals Round of Competition (top 16). Hana Ahmed, missed the break rounds on speaker points. All three had 4-2 preliminary records.
*Juniors Kate Woska and Lauren Rutledge were among the top 18 qualifiers to the Final Round of Student Congress. Rutledge finished in 8th place overall on the judges ballots.
*Special Thanks to Jennifer Dever for taking her weekend to be with her alma mater.

5) Yale Invitational (September 15-18, 2006). LHP's "5 tournaments in two weekends" adventure completed its final stop at Yale University's annual Invitational featuring the top talent in the Eastern U.S. plus a whole lot more. Among the LHP highlights.
*Junior Varun Hippalgaonkar finished as the Runner-Up in a strong contingent of National Student Congress, while Junior Chase Sanders also advanced to the final round of competition.
*Junior Shaz Jafri advanced to the Semifinals of Mixed Extemporaneous Speaking (7th Place Overall)
*Junior Patrick Hurlburt picked up where he left off last year with a spot in the final round of Humorous Interpretation and finished in 3rd Place overall.
*Junior Rory McNamara picked up where HE left off last year with a spot in the final round of Dramatic Interpretation and finished in 5th place overall.
*Sophomores Rachel Baker (Oral Interp) and the team of Brian Taussig and Michelle Edwards (Duo Interp) advanced to the Semifinal Rounds in the respective events
*Junior Samantha Perrotta advanced to the Semifinals of Original Oratory, while Senior Hilary Whitworth and Sophomore Alexa Lytle advanced to Quarterfinals of Original Oratory.
*While the LD team garnered few breaks or smiles from the gallery, a couple of notable performances. Our Lone Break was in JVLD, Bennett Garfinkel finished with a 4-1 prelim record and was 5th seed, but dropped in Double-Octafinals (top 32). However, he was awarded TOP Speaker in the Tournament.
*Seniors Michael Saldarriaga and Najeeb Khuda finished with 4-2 records respectively (1-3 in the last two rounds) which kept them out of the money at the end.

*Special Thanks to Marisa Cohen, Alicia Queiruga-Sanchez, Mr. Joseph Clemens, and M. and Mme. Mark and Georgia Perrotta for their expertise and patience in handling a long and difficult tournament with a large group.