The Student News Site of Palo Alto High School

The Paly Voice

The Student News Site of Palo Alto High School

The Paly Voice

The Student News Site of Palo Alto High School

The Paly Voice

TONE
We want to hear your voice!

Which school event do you most look forward to this year?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

Debate team wins St. Francis Invitational

voice-picture

Junior Alex Carter with coach Jennie Savage, at St. Francis High School’s Garcia Invitational last weekend. Carter won the tournament and placed top speaker overall. – Catherine CarterThe Palo Alto High School debate team emerged victorious from Saint Francis High School’s Garcia Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 9.

Junior Alex Carter won the Lincoln-Douglas division of the tournament, defeating Maya Kaul from Presentation High School on a 4-1 decision in finals. In preliminary rounds, Carter won four rounds and lost two, advancing to elimination rounds as the ninth seed.

Paly’s Director of Forensics Jennie Savage was impressed with Carter’s accomplishment.

“He [Carter] started debating when he was in middle school and he took top speaker and was the top ranked debater at Saint Francis Invitational,” Savage said. “We are very proud of him and it [his win] is motivation for the team.”

Other standout performances came from junior Anjali Ahuja, who went 5-1 in preliminary rounds and was the fourth speaker at the tournament. Although she advanced to elimination rounds as the fourth seed, she lost in octafinals. Sophomore Jeffrey Ling also had a 4-2 record in preliminary rounds, but did not earn high enough speaker points to advance further.

Other high schools that competed in the tournament included St. Francis, Lynbrook, St. Ignatius and James Logan.

According to Savage, this was an exceptional victory given the competitiveness of the local debate circuit.

“We have the hardest local debate circuit in the country,” Savage said.

This last weekend Paly debate’s varsity team competed at the New York City Invitational at the Bronx High School of Science. Senior Lucas Chan emerged as a double-octofinalist and was the seventh speaker. The policy debate team of senior Chloe Chen and junior Nassim Fedel were also double-octofinalists.

The Lincoln-Douglas team will compete next at Apple Valley High School in Minnesota on the weekend of Nov. 5-7. This tournament does not have a policy division, but the policy team’s next tournament will be held at Milpitas High School on Nov. 14.

Leave a Comment

Comments (0)

All The Paly Voice Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *