14) Florida Forensic League State Championship Qualifier (Lake Highland Preparatory School: Saturday, February 2nd): The Timacuan District held its qualifier on our home turf this past weekend to decide which 6 contestants in our district would be competing for Florida's State Championship to be held in Niceville, Florida on March 1-2, 2008. Overall, Lake Highland Qualified 22 of its team members to the state championships. This is an impressive total.
Congratulations to Lake Highland Speech and Debate Team Members who qualified to this year’s State Championships:
Hana Ahmed (Lincoln-Douglas Debate)
Greg Whitehurst (Lincoln-Douglas Debate)
Andrew Bodiford (Lincoln-Douglas Debate)
Chase Sanders (Student Congress)
Lauren Rutledge (Student Congress)
Risha Asokan (International Extemp)
Bilal Shaukat (International Extemp)
Janek Jakubisin (International Extemp)
David Fernandez (International Extemp)
Nick Smith (Domestic Extemp)
Sydney Rossman-Reich (Domestic Extemp)
Chip Sinton (Domestic Extemp)
Randy Ahluwalia (Domestic Extemp)
Samantha Perrotta (Original Oratory)
Danielle Thibault (Original Oratory)
Allison Pridmore (Original Oratory)
Ben Patz (Humorous Interpretation)
Rory McNamara (Humorous and Dramatic Interpretation)
Alexa Lytle (Dramatic and Oral Interpretation)
Rachel Holderbach (Dramatic Interpretation)
Sanika Dange (Dramatic and Duo Interpretation)
Brian Taussig (Oral and Duo Interpretation)

Special Thanks to ALL of the Parents and Student volunteers who devoted their time and effort to making this tournament so successful. Thanks also to student volunteers who helped in a number of ways throughout the day.

13) The Barkley Forum @ Emory University (Atlanta, GA) January 25-28, 2008: The Lake Highland Speech and Debate team took on the very best in the USA in the Most competitive national tournament on Lake Highland's Spring Calendar. 1,500 competitors from 38 states competed in this year's installment of Forensics' most famous tournament. Here are the Highlights:
*In Lincoln-Douglas Debate: Senior Arianna Guzman finished with a 4-2 record and was tied as 33rd seed overall, missing break-rounds by one half of a speaker point. Hana Ahmed finished with a respectable 3-3 record.
*In Public Forum Debate, the Team of Varun Hippalgaonkar and Shaz Jafri (in his one and only tournament appearance of the year) finished at the TOP SEED Overall and earned a TOC Bid with an appearance in Octafinals. Varun-Shaz dropped on a comical 2-1 decision, but beat the tournament champions head to head as well as the 2nd Seed in the tournament.
*In Student Congress, Senior Lauren Rutledge continued the team's dominant streak at national competition this year by advancing to FINAL round of competition (top 20 out of over 130 competitors). Junior Chip Sinton was 5th in his preliminary chamber (4 advanced out).
*In Extemporaneous Speaking, Junior Sensation Risha Asokan advanced to Quarterfinals. Risha has broken at every tournament she has competed in this year.
*In Original Oratory, the Fabulous Threesome ALL advanced to elimination rounds. Sophomore Allie Pridmore advanced to Quarterfinals, Rory McNamara advanced to Semifinals, and SENIOR CAPTAIN SAMANTHA PERROTTA, made an emphatic return to center stage with a new oratory and a new attitude. She finished as the tournament's Runner-Up in the best finish of her career at the nation's most competitive tournament outside of national championships.
*In Oral Intepretation, Rachel Baker advanced to Quarterfinals
*In Dramatic Interpretation, Rachel Baker and Rory McNamara advanced to Semifinals.
*In all, EVERY ONE OF OUR INDIVIDUAL EVENTS CONTESTANTS ADVANCED TO ELIMINATION ROUNDS AT EMORY. THIS IS UNPRECEDENTED IN OUR SCHOOL'S HISTORY.
*OVERALL, ONE OF LAKE HIGHLAND'S BEST TEAM PERFORMANCES AT THE BARKLEY FORUM.

*Special Thanks to Mark Perrotta and Marisa Cohen for helping to give the team a fun, stress-free weekend. Welcome Back, Shaz.

12) The CRESTIAN CLASSIC: January 17-20, 2008 @ Pinecrest School and Country Club, Fort Lauderdale and Boca Raton, Florida: The Team traveled to State of Florida's most prestigious and national of its national tournaments for the annual Crestian Classic. Lake Highland has enjoyed more success at this tournament over the years than the majority on our calendar and this year was no different.

Disclaimer: The overall Success of the Lake Highland Speech and Debate team will be claimed by the tandem of JR Thorsen and Michael Holzer. The collective efforts of the other coaches and the individual performances and work ethic of the team's members pales in comparison to the karmic power and gifts of these young men. They are the Ben and Jerry of High School Forensics. Coaches of Champions???? YOU BET'CHA. They are the Karl Rove to Lake Highland's George W. Bush. And with that last analogy, I will have to excuse myself to throw up on the front lawn.

Team Performance Overall: For the third time in its history, Lake Highland won the Lee J. Turner Trophy for overall excellence in Debate, finished in 2nd place in the Interpretive Events Cup and finished in 2nd place in the Overall (combined debate and speech events) team sweepstakes.

Lincoln Douglas Debate: Once Again, the LD team added to its historical run at the Crestian Classic by picking up its 4th consecutive outright championship, its 5th consecutive piece of the LD championship, its 6th consecutive Finals appearance, and its 2nd Final Round Close-out.

*SENIOR HANA AHMED AND JUNIOR GURDANE BHUTANI FINISHED THE TOURNAMENT AS DECLARED CO-CHAMPIONS AFTER BOTH ADVANCING TO THE FINAL ROUND OF COMPETITION. GURDANE EARNED HIS 2ND TOC BID IN AS MANY TOURNAMENTS AND IS NOW FULLY QUALIFIED TO THE TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS IN KENTUCKY. HANA WAS A PERFECT 10-0 WAS TOP SEED AND 7TH SPEAKER AT THE TOURNAMENT IN HER FINEST CAREER PERFORMANCE IN LD. GURDANE WAS THE THIRD OVERALL SEED AND WAS 2ND SPEAKER.

*Senior Greg Whitehurst broke through with the first varsity outround of his career. He finished with a 4-2 preliminary record and advanced to the bid round of competition (Octafinals top 16).
*Sophomore Philip Deuchler had the strongest performance of his young career, going 5-1 advancing to double-octafinals and finishing as the 17th speaker overall in the competition.
*Senior Arianna Guzman had a difficult time in the early rounds, but finished with a 3-3 record, 27th seed overall and 18th speaker in the tournament.
*Freshmen Sheena Karkal and Martin Sigalow finished their first-ever Varsity tournament at the national level with respectable 3-3 records.
*Andrew Bodiford was 3-2 before he met his fate in the bubble round. He Pellicotta'd his way to a disappointing but expected 3-3 record. Keep up the good humor, Andrew.

Public Forum Debate:
The Teams of Michelle Edwards/David Miller and Freshman Superstars Armaan Bhutani/Randy Ahluwalia advanced to Double-Octafinals (Top 25) of competition with 4-2 preliminary records. The Teams of Nick Smith/Daniel Welch, Will Miller/Sydney Waitz-Kudla, and Libby Van Meter/Neil Duggal finished with respectable 3-3 records.

Student Congress:
Seniors Charlie Doyle and Lauren Rutledge and FunnyMan Junior Chip Sinton navigated through a field of over 200 competitors before bowing out in Semifinals. (top 40 overall)

Extemporaneous Speaking:
Lone Entry in the Extemporaneous Field, Bilal Shaukat, had the best tournament of his budding young career by finishing in 4th place overall.

Can Anyone tell that the group currently on stage is Extemporaneous Speakers. Accountants party harder.

Dramatic Interpretation:
This font is in homage to the Red Dress and skilled performance of Junior Captain Sanika Dange who delivered Lake Highland's FIRST-EVER National Tournament Championship in Dramatic Interpretation. Sanika's Junior Running-Mate, Alexa Lytle, finished in 3rd place while Sophomore Rachel Holderbach advanced to Quarterfinals.

Oral Interpretation:
Junior Captain Rachel Baker finished among the nation's elite by advancing to Semifinals of competition, while Alexa Lytle and Brian Taussig advanced to Quarterfinals.

Humorous Interpretation:
Senior Captain Rory McNamara, who has participated in more final rounds than an Irish Folk band on St. Patrick's Day, gave Lake Highland one of its strongest finishes in HI in Crestian Classic History with a 2nd Place finish overall. Partner Rachel Baker, in her strongest tournament of the season, finished in 4th place, while newcomer Freshman Bailey Miller advanced to Quarterfinals in his strongest performance of the season.

Duo Interpretation:
Finally, the Sonny and Cher-like chemistry of lone LHP Duo Interpretation entry, Sanika Dange and Brian Taussig earned enough good graces for a place in the Quarterfinal Round of competition.

Special Thanks: To those who accompanied the team, chaperoned, and fueled the creative potential of the youngsters. Special Thanks to the Lytles, Sintons, Millers, Becker's, McNamaras, and a host of other parents who agreed to judge for us this weekend. Of course Mr. C's special shout out to the LD Machine (Mr. Wascher, Sophie Grace, JR Thorsen, and Michael Holzer, who worked long hours in preparing and coaching the LD team this weekend. Success was not without their tremendous efforts, humor, and good nature.)

11) NFCFL #4 at Lake Brantley High School, January 12, 2008: The team traveled to historic Lake Brantley for the 4th installment of the CFL District Qualifiers. Here are the results:

Declamation: Elaine Zhou placed third overall and secured a 1/100 in her second round of competition.

Dramatic Performance: Ben Patz and Rachel Baker both picket-fenced the tournament. The tie was broken on speaker points. With 398 points Ben placed first, followed in second by Rachel with 397 points. Rachel Holderbach placed third, giving Highland a 1, 2, 3 sweep in DP. Cherilyn Gordon placed 7th. Followed by Bailey Miller in 10th.

Extemporaneous Speaking: Risha Asokan turned in Highland's best performance of the day, placing second. Bilal was close behind in 4th. Andrew Rothrock, Srikar Reddy, David Fernandez, and Arjun Mathur rounded out 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th. David Fernandez, Arjun Mathur and Srikar Reddy continued to improve by putting in their best performances of the year

Oral Interpretation: Alexa Lytle placed 2nd in Oral Interp. Followed by Danielle Thibault in 4th.

Public Forum Debate: The team of Sydney Waitz-Kudla and Will Miller placed 2nd with a 4-0 record and an almost unbreakable tie for first. Libby Van Meter and Neil Duggal placed 7th with a record of 3-1 in their first time out as a team. Michelle Edwards and David Miller placed 8th. Nick Smith and Danny Welch placed 11th followed by Armaan Bhutani and Randy Ahluwalia in 12th place. Round out the team Tej Amin and Bryant Becker can in a respectable 20th place in a mixed division of novice and varsity competition.

Lincoln Douglas Debate: In Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Andrew Bodiford racked up his first win ever with a 4-0 record. Also with a 4-0 record and the best novice at Lake Brantley was Sheena Karkal in 2nd place. With a 3-1 record Gurdane Bhutani rounded out the 1, 2, 3 Lake Highland win and placed for the first time ever at a local. Martin Sigalow 3-1 record placed 5th. Followed by Bryan Whithurst in 12th and Philip Deuchler in 15th.

Student Congress: Although a mistake was made in Student Congress tabulation, in our hearts Neil Choski still wins the best novice award. (Risha Bajaj from Trinity actually placed higher...you'll get him next time Neil!) Chip Sinton, although he did not board, earned all sixes for his speeches. Niki Thadani and Anand Deshpande also put in notable performances for the day.

10) Dowling Catholic Paradigm (December 7-9, 2007) Lake Highland Preparatory traveled its some of its Varsity LDers, a Novice LDer, and a Public Forum Team up to the frozen tundra of Caucus-Land USA, (Des Moines, IA) for the annual Dowling Catholic Paradigm, featuring some of the best debate competition in the Midwestern United States. Here are the highlights:

*In Varsity LD: REDEMPTION
*Of our Five Competitors, 3 advanced to Elimination rounds and 2 picked up TOC bids.
*Senior Arianna Guzman finished as the 4th seed with a 5-1 record, but in altruistic gesture agreed to be coached over when she ran into her teammate, Gurdane Bhutani in the Octafinal Round. As it turned out, Senior Alyson Promes also ran into Gurdane Bhutani, this time in the Quarterfinal Round and agreed to be coached over, but this time, both Gurdane and Alyson were awarded BIDS to the annual Tournament of Champions in Lexington, KY. Gurdane dropped on a 2-1 in Semifinals.

*In Novice LD, lone entry Martin "Korean Hailstorm" Sigalow danced through the field like a crazed matador, taking a 5-1 preliminary record all the way through to the Semifinals. Martin was awarded 4th speaker overall in the tournament and earned his second Semifinals appears in as many national tournaments. Martin has proven to be among the best freshman in the United States.

*In Public Forum, the team of David Miller and Michelle Edwards finished with a 5-1 preliminary record and advanced to their second outround in national competition before bowing out in Double-Octafinals.

Special thanks to Mr. Mike Wascher for all of his help and good humor over the weekend and of course to Fashion Guru Camie Camomile Norman for her help with the team.

9) Glenbooks (November 16-18, 2007): The Squad traveled to Chicago, IL for the 407th annual Glenbrooks speech and debate tournament featuring over 2000 competitors from all over the country at the nation's most competitive fall tournament. LHP didn't disappoint as it unleashed a plethora of wonderful success stories at the latest installment. (If you have pictures from this tournament, please send them to me)

Lincoln-Douglas Debate: In a field featuring America's best 250 debaters, two standout performaces:
*Junior Gurdane Bhutani finished with a 5-2 record, was 14th speaker and advanced to the Bid round (Double-Octafinals, before dropping on a 2-1 decision to eventual runner-up, Scarsdale's own Matt Hershey.
*Senior, but first-year Arianna Guzman finished with a 4-3 record and lost in the bubble round to (you guessed it), Scarsdale's very own Matt Hershey.

Student Congress: Arguably the United States' Best High School Student Congress team took it to the Glenbrooks like an old fisherman to port-side bait shop.
*Varun Hippalgaonkar, continuing his electric polka dance through the legislative national circuit, won his 2nd Consecutive national tournament, by taking a Student Congress that featured nearly 300 competitors. Varun Has now won the nation's 2nd and 3rd largest national tournaments of the season (excepting the National Championships. Harvard is first, but Varun will be playing Lacrosse that weekend, so the triple crown will have to be but a Funny Cide pipe dream crushed by the blind shoemaker)
*Senior Captain Chase Sanders, advanced to his 407th career final round and placed in the top 10 overall (9th place to be exact)
*Senior Charles Doyle, kung fu master, and world renowned scientist, also is a pretty decent legislator. Sir Charles (That Kim Jong Il is Terrible, Terrible, Terrible...Back to you Ernie) finished in the Super Congress round
*Seniors Janek Jakubisin and Lauren Rutledge advanced to Semifinals to bring hardware to 5 of Lake Highland's 6 Congress Competitors.

Extemporaneous Speaking: Lake Highland broke every extemper that we brought to the Glenbrooks this year. (1)
*Junior Captain and fashion critic for London Times, Risha Asokan kept her break record perfect by advancing to the Quarterfinals (top 24) against the toughest competition in the land.

Original Oratory: Oratories continue to shine at the Glenbrooks like the rims of a freshly-washed escalade.
*Allie Pridmore and Rory McNamara advanced to Quarterfinals (top 24)

Duo Interp: Lake Highland advanced each and every duo that they brought to the Glenbrooks (1)
*The Team of Sanika "I'll be" Dange and Brian Taussig advanced to Quarterfinals.

Dramatic Interp:
*Sophomore Rachel Holderbach advanced to Quarterfinals (top 24)

Oral Interp (known in the villages as Prose/Poetry):
*Both Alexa Lytle and Brian Taussig advanced to SEMIFINALS (top 12 in the nation)

Humorous Interp:
Funnyman Rory McNamara, in his 407th career final round finished in 4th place amongst the nation's funniest high school interpers.

*Special Thanks to all of the parents, coaches, and others who helped make this difficult, but successful trip possible. One of the better showings by the LHP.

8) Winter Springs: NFCFL Qualifier #2 (November 10, 2007):
Superb Performances here at the Winter Springs CFL:

*Andrew Rothrock finished in 3rd Place in Extemp
*Allie Pridmore and Stephanie Harduvel went 1-2 in Original Oratory
*Rachel Holderbach won Dramatic Performance
*Cherilyn Gordon finished in 4th place in Dramatic Performance.

Congratulations to these folks.

7) Hendrick Hudson (November 9-12, 2007): The LD team traveled up to Warm and Sunny Westchester, New York for the annual Bump Invitational/Jim Menick appreciation weekend at Hendrick Hudson, NY. While the Varsity LDers didn't have the type of success that we usually do, the Novices made their mark on one of the Northeast's most presitigious debate tournaments.

In Varsity LD:
*Senior Greg Whitehurst finished with a 4-2 record, and situated himself as 33rd seed (odd man out) based on a 3rd tie-breaker
*Gurdane Bhutani was 12th speaker but missed breaks with a 3-3 record.
*Arianna Guzman and Hana Ahmed also finished with 3-3 records.
*This was the only time in recent memory that LHP failed to break
someone in Varsity LD. Fortunately, the Novices picked up the pace.

In Novice LD, the Fab Four, as they have become known (at least by me). put out another tremendous performance. The fab four finished preliminary competition with a combined 19-1 record and all four advanced to Octafinals or better in the 85 person field.
*Freshman Randy Ahluwalia was TOP SPEAKER, TOP SEED and had a perfect 5-0 record before being eliminated in Semifinals.
*Freshman Martin Sigalow was 4th Seed, had a 5-0 record and advanced to Semifinals before bowing out on a 2-1 decision
*Freshman Armaan Bhutani was 3rd Seed, had a 5-0 record and lost on a 2-1 decision in Octafinals.
*And Freshman Sheena Karkal, coming off of her Blue Key Championship, finished with a 4-1 prelim record, and as 11th seed, was paired off against Martin before being coached over. Sheena has been in elimination rounds of all three national tournaments that she has entered this year.

6) Florida Blue Key (October 25-28, 2007): Lake Highland made a return trip to Florida and the Southeastern United States' Largest National Forensics Invitational. Featured Competition of over 1000 competitors, nearly 100 schools from 18 states, Blue Key was as competitive as it is unpredictable. Naturally, Pleasant and Unpleasant surprises abounded at Gainesville's Crowned Jewel of Forensics. Lake Highland, as a team finished in 3rd Place overall which marks the 7th consecutive year that LHP has finished 2nd or 3rd at this illustrious tournament. Here are a few highlights from the weekend's competition.

Lincoln-Douglas Debate:
*LHP added another Blue Key Champion, this time in the person of freshman Sheena Karkal, who completed a 27-2 overall ballot count on her way to the Novice Lincoln-Douglas Title.
*In other Novice Action, Freshman Randy Ahluwalia advanced to Octafinals, only to run into Sheena in the round. Randy was painfully, but subsequently coached over.
*Armaan Bhutani also advanced to Octafinals in Novice LD.
*In Varsity LD, Senior Hana Ahmed lost on a 2-1 in Octafinals, Junior Gurdane Bhutani lost on a 2-1 in Octafinals, Arianna Guzman advanced to Double-Octafinals, while Philip Deuchler, in his first Varsity tournament ever, advanced to double-Octafinals.

Public Forum Debate:
*The A Team of David Miller and Michelle Edwards advanced with a 5-1 record to Double-Octafinals (top 32) and lost on a 2-1 to eventual champions.

In Student Congress: It was just about nasty all the way around. The Congress team advanced 7 of its 8 competitors to outrounds. Including:
*Senior Varun Hippalgaonkar was declared Champion of Student Congress. Blue Key Congress is the 3rd Largest Congress on the Circuit and this year featured nearly 350 competitors. This is Varun's First-ever Championship in Student Congress
*Senior Chase Sanders finished in 10th place overall and joined Varun in the Final Round. Chase has been to finals at every tournament that Lake Highland has traveled to over the last couple of years.
*In Semifinals, Senior Janek Jakubisin, Junior Chip Sinton, Junior Niki Thadani, Senior Lauren Rutledge,and Senior Charlie Doyle.

In Extemporaneous Speaking: The LHP team, depleted after the graduation, defection, or miscellaneous misappropriation of 4 of the nation's top 30 extempers, now has passed the torch to the extemp team's newest nationally-recognized competitors.
*Junior Captain Risha Asokan, barely a blip on the extemporaneous radar last season, has now advanced to finals at two of the circuit's most presitigious extemp tournaments. Risha finished in 5th place overall in a highly competitive FX field.
*Junior Captain Bilal Shaukat, finally arrived. Semifinal Rounds in both Domestic Extemp and Foreign Extemp catapult Bilal into one of Florida's top extempers (along with Risha).

In Original Oratory: Nearly all of the Oratories made it to elimination rounds.
*Sophomore Sensation Allie Pridmore (Semifinals)
*Senior Traci Gordon (Quarterfinals)
*Junior Stephanie Harduvel (Quarterfinals)
*Junior Danielle Thibault (Quarterfinals)

In Interpretive Events:
*Junior Alexa Lytle finished in 4th Place overall in Dramatic Interp and advanced to Octafinals in Oral Interp
*Junior Rachel Baker advanced to Semifinals in both Oral Interp and Dramatic Interp
*Junior Sanika Dange advanced to Semifinals in Dramatic Interp
*Allie Pridmore advanced to Quarterfinals in Humorous Interp

5) Trinity CFL (October 13th, 2007): The First Catholic Forensic League Qualifying tournament of the season at Trinity Preparatory school's lush, cerebral campus produced some fine performances, some of which were first-tournaments for team members. Among the highlights:
*Maddie Perrotta: 2nd in Declamation
*Rachel Baker: 1st in Dramatic Performance
*Sanika Dange And Brian Taussig: 2nd in Duo
*Charlie Doyle: 1st in Extemp
*Bilal Shaukat: 2nd in Extemp
*Michelle Edwards and David Miller: 4th in Public Forum (4-0)
*Tej Amin and Bryant Becker: 1st (Top Novices) in Public Forum
*Sheena Karkal: 1st in Novice LD (4-0: Top Speaker)
*Randy Ahluwalia: 4th in Novice LD (4-0)
*Armaan Bhutani: 6th in Novice LD (4-0)

4) UPenn Invitational. (October 6-7, 2007) A select group of our Individual Events competitors (and Gurdane) competed at the annual Liberty Bell Classic at the University of Pennsylvania. While only traveling 14 team members, the accomplishments of those in attendance was worthy of a 5th place finish in overall team sweepstakes. Individually, this is what we got:

1) Lincoln-Douglas: Hanged out after his stellar performance at the inaugural round robin, Gurdane Bhutani advanced to the Octafinal round of competition. This is LHP's one and only break in LD competition in the history of its attendance at the Liberty Bell.
2) Congress: We traveled 4 competitors, all of them made it to finals (top 12): Charlie Doyle was named tournament runner-up, while Anand Deshpande, Niki Thadani, and Chip Sinton all made it to the Super Congress Final Round
3) Individual Events:
*Allie Pridmore finished in 4th place in Original Oratory
*The team of Brian Taussig/Sanika Dange finished in 6th Place in Duo Interp
*Brian Taussig advanced to Semifinals in Oral Interp
*Alexa Lytle advanced to Semifinals in Dramatic Interp

3) Wake Forest University Early Bird Invitational (September 14-15, 2007). Lake Highland traveled members of its Lincoln-Douglas Debate and Student Congress Squads to this year's Early Bird, one of the fall's largest national tournaments. Here are a few of the highlights:

Student Congress:
Of the 5 Students that Lake Highland Traveled, 4 of them appeared in the final round of Competition, they were:
*Senior Lauren Rutledge, who finished in 6th place overall at the tournament.
*Senior Charlie Doyle
*Senior Kate Woska and;
*Sophomore Nick Smith

4 of the 18 finalists is not bad for the first Congress tournament of the year.

Varsity Lincoln-Douglas:
*Nationally-Ranked Junior Gurdane Bhutani finished at the tournament's 7th Seed, and had a 5-1 preliminary record before bowing out in double-Octafinals (top 32) on a 2-1 decision. Gurdane was also the tournament's 10th speaker.
*Senior Luca Ferrara finished with a 3-3 record and was the tournament's 11th speaker

JV Lincoln-Douglas:
*In her first national tournament, Freshman Sheena Karkal finished as the tournament's 3rd seed, with a 5-1 record and advanced to Octafinals (top 16). She was also the tournament's 4th speaker.

*All 8 LD entries finished with records at .500 or better.

4) Valley Mid-America Cup (Des Moines, Iowa) September 29-October 1, 2007. *Lake Highland traveled members of its Varsity Lincoln-Douglas and Public Forum teams to one of the Midwest's largest Fall Tournaments and one of the most competitive Lincoln-Douglas tournaments. Brief Highlights:

Varsity Lincoln-Douglas:
*Senior Arianna Guzman, in her first-ever national tournament in Lincoln-Douglas finished preliminaries with a 4-2 record advanced to double-octafinals before bowing out to eventual tournament champion, Edina's Ben Holguin. Arianna's two losses were to the tournament's finalists and 2 of the nation's top 5 debaters.
*Gurdane Bhutani and Hana Ahmed finished with 3-3 records.

Public Forum:
*Krishen Patel and Michelle Edwards finished their first-ever national tournment with a respectable 3-3 record.

5) Yale Invitational (September 28-30, 2007): The team traveled to the Northeast's 2nd Largest National tournament in a competition that featured 120 schools from 17 states. Here are the highlights:

*The team finished in 4th Place overall in Team Sweepstakes. This is the best team finish at Yale in Lake Highland's history.

Varsity Lincoln-Douglas:
*Senior Greg Whitehurst finished preliminaries with a 4-2 record. His two losses were to nationally-ranked debaters who both placed in Quarterfinals or better at the tournament.

Student Congress:
*Senior Varun Hippalgaonkar finished in 3rd Place overall in the tournament that featured over 200 competitors.
*Senior Captain Chase Sanders advanced to the final round of competition and placed in 12th Place overall
*Senior Lauren Rutledge advanced to Semifinals of competition.

Extemporaneous:
*In one of the tournament's great moments, Junior Risha Asokan advanced all the way to the final round of competiton in Extemporaneous Speaking. Risha's performance is the 2nd best in team history at the Yale Invitational at one of the toughest extemp tournaments on our schedule.

Original Oratory:
*Senior Captain Samantha Perrotta captivated the New Haven audience with the power and mesmerizing prowess of a Shamanic master, captivating the tournament's faithful with her Oratorical skills. Samantha advanced to yet another final round in her illustrious forensics career, placing 5th overall in the competition. Her spell-binding performance, left one final round viewer to claim: "I thought she was going to levitate...but then she didn't"
*Sophomore sensation Allie Pridmore advanced to Semifinals (top 12) in a competition featuring nearly 100 competitors from all over the nation.

Interpretive Events:
*Senior Rory McNamara continued where he left off last year by advancing to finals (6th Place) in Humorous Interp, and Quarterfinals in Dramatic Interp
*Junior Rachel Baker advanced to Finals (5th Place) in Humorous Interp and Quarterfinals in Oral Interp
*Sophomore Cherilyn Gordon advanced to Quarterfinals in Dramatic Interp
*And Sophomore Ben Patz advanced to Quarterfinals in Humorous Interp.

*Special Thanks to Janet McNamara, Marisa Cohen, Camille Norman, and Morgan Whitworth for taking time to accompany the team on this difficult, but rewarding tournament.

Tournament Un: The Winter Springs Invitational, September 8-9, 2007: The Lake Highland Rhetorical Highlanders laced up against Florida's finest in the inaugural this past weekend. Some of the highlights:

*Arianna Guzman, converted Policy Debater, took on the field in her first-ever Lincoln-Douglas tournament and mowed down the field like a mower to over-wrought ragweed. Champion of her first tournament. Arianna finished the tournament with a 8-1 record and had a 15-0 ballot count in the break-rounds. LHP has won this championship two years in a row.

*Freshman Randy Ahluwalia and Martin "Storm" Sigalow finished their first tournament in a combined varsity-novice field with 3-2 records. They broke to the all novice semifinal round and earned honors among the top 4 novices in the state of FLA.

*In Student Congress, Senior Lauren Rutledge, in her Wake Forest tune-up, finished in 5th place after advancing to the super session.

*In Extemporaneous Speaking, Junior Capitain Risha Asokan finished in 3rd place overall, while Sophomore Andrew Rothrock finished in 6th. Rothrock was named the tournament's top novice extemper.

*In Original Oratory, the nation's arguably deepest most talented crop showed well in their first tournament. Sophomore Allie Pridmore finished at the tournament's Runner-Up, Junior Stephanie Harduvel finished in 6th place in her first ever tournament final, and Senior Traci Gordon advanced to Semifinals.

*In Humorous Interp, Nationally-ranked RoryMcNamara began his final year of competition by winning the first competition of the year. Sophomore Ben Patz was the runner-up and Rachel Baker finished in 6th. 3 of the top 6 at the tournament.

*In Oral Interp, Brian Taussig finished in 5th place, marking the 4th consecutive Florida tournament where Taussig was in a final round.

*And finally, Freshman Elaine Zhou, in her first competitive tournament finished as the tournament's runner-up in Declamation.

Excellent showing, and thanks to the number of parents who helped the students through a successful weekend, and an obviously difficult weekend under the circumstances. Congratulations to the competitors for their courage.

Tournament Deux: The Vassar Round Robin: Senior Alyson Promes was invited among the top 14 2nd-3rd year debaters in the United States for the 5th Annual Vassar Round Robin. In the strongest field ever, Alyson finished with the best performance ever by a Lake Highland Debater at the tournament with a 7-7 ballot count. This placed her in a tie for 3rd place in her pod. Congratulations Alyson and thanks Tracy Bessire for accompanying us on our journey which included lunch in Chappaqua (home of the Clintons) and some unplanned tours of the Hudson Valley.

The Competitors as the 5th Annual Vassar Round Robin
(Founder and Proprietor Jon Cruz is front and center)