Lake Highland Speech and Debate
Tournament Results
2008-2009 Season

Tournament #1:  Winter Springs Invitational (September 13-14, 2008).  *Lake Highland sent 48 competitors, including 26 first-time debaters to the annual Winter Springs Invitational.  Plenty of hardware for the youthful LHP team.  Here are a list of the award-winners.



Randy Ahluwalia - Semifinalist Varsity Lincoln-Douglas (5th speaker)
Tej Amin - Semifinalist Varsity Lincoln-Douglas (4th Speaker)
Martin Sigalow - Quarterfinalist Varsity Lincoln-Douglas (6th Speaker)
Danielle Greenberg - Co-Champion Novice Lincoln-Douglas (Top Speaker)
Christian Morris - Co-Champion Novice Lincoln-Douglas (2nd Speaker)
Hal Shimkoski and Lauren Thomas - Semifinalists Novice Public Forum Debate
Elizabeth Ross and Austin Coye - Semifinalists Novice Public Forum Debate (Top Two Speakers in the Division)
Rachel Baker - Semifinalist Humorous Interpretation
Ben Patz - Semifinalist Humorous Interpretation
Danielle Thibault - Semifinalist Dramatic Interpretation
Sanika Dange - 2nd Place Dramatic Interpretation
Sanika Dange/Danielle Thibault - Semifinalist Duo Interpretation
Diego Canizares/Rachel Holderbach - 3rd Place Duo Interpretation
Andrew Rothrock - 4th Place International Extemp
David Fernandez - Semifinalist International Extemp
Matt DeBari - Top Novice International Extemp
Julia Manchester - Top Novice and Semifinalist Domestic Extemp
Jake Bayer - Top Novice Student Congress
Stephanie Harduvel - 5th Place Original Oratory
Elaine Zhou - Semifinalist Original Oratory
Allie Pridmore - Semifinalist Original Oratory
Jay-Shing Wang - 5th Place Declamation

*Dominance in all events offered at the tournament (except Congress, but there is always a next time).  Enough Said.

2. Greenhill Invitational (September 12-14, 2008).  Top Lincoln-Douglas Debaters descended upon the annual Greenhill Invitational in Dallas, Texas.  Greenhill is regarded as one of the most competitive circuit tournaments in Lincoln-Douglas on the Fall Calendar.  Highlights:
*Senior Captain Gurdane Bhutani advanced to the round of 32 (Double-Octafinals).  He bowed out on a 3-0 decision in the Bid Round.
*Junior Director Andrew Bodiford finished with a respectable 3-3 preliminary record.

3. Mid-America Cup @ Valley High School (Des Moines, Iowa) (September 26-29, 2008):  Over 130 Lincoln-Douglas debaters came to Iowa for the annual Mid-America Cup.  Lake Highland traveled 6 of its top 7 debaters including 5 sophomores to the highly competitive tournament. 
*Senior Captain Gurdane Bhutani completed the best tournament of his career and cemented his claim to be among the top 10 debaters in the United States.  Gurdane finished with a 8-2 record, was 4th speaker overall in the tournament and advanced to SEMIFINALS (top 4).  He earned his first TOC bid of the season.
*Junior Andrew Bodiford finished with a 4-2 record and missed break rounds by a couple of speaker points.
*Sophomores Randy Ahluwalia and Tej Amin finished with respectable 3-3 records amongst stiff competition.  Tej lost his 6th round, otherwise would've been in the break rounds.

4. Yale Invitational @ Yale University (New Haven, Connecticut) September 26-29, 2008.  Lake Highland traveled 20 of its top Congress and Individual Events competitors to the annual Yale Invitational, the largest national tournament in the Eastern United States in the Fall Semester.  The team boasted a plethora of fine performances and finished 8th out of over 110 teams, despite the fact that we were the only team to place in the top 10 without competitors in the debate divisions.  Individual Accolades:

*Seniors Danielle Thibault and Sanika Dange represented the best performance in team history at Yale in Duo Interpretation placing 3rd place overall.
*Junior Rachel Holderbach advanced to the final round of competition, placing 6th place overall
*Senior Alexa Lytle continued a 5 year in a row trend by advancing to the final round in Original Oratory.  Alexa finished in 3rd Place overall.
*Senior Risha Asokan finished in 7th place in International Extemp
*Senior Rachel Baker finished in 8th place in Humorous Interp
*Junior Allie Pridmore finished in 10th place in Original Oratory
*Senior Chip Sinton and Junior Nick Smith advanced to Semifinals of Student Congress
*Senior Danielle Thibault advanced to Semifinals in Dramatic Interpretation.

Special thanks to Marisa Cohen and Jim and Carol Lytle for their help with the Trip.