Sophomore Travis Chen will be attending this year’s Tournament of Champions, having earned a spot in the TOC at the Alta Silver and Black Invitational Tournament in Alta (Salt Lake City), Utah this past weekend.

Chen, who also earned a bid last year at the Alta tournament, earned his second bid of the year en route to the semifinal round of the tournament. He also won eighth speaker. Chen earned his first bid this October at the St. Marks’ tournament in Dallas.

“It was really surprising, I guess, I didn’t expect to go so far,” Chen said. “There were a lot of really good debaters from some big debate programs there.”

Chen’s success didn’t come as a surprise to many of his teammates, however.

“He [Chen] is a really strong debater, and it’s a great achievement to get to the TOC as a sophomore,” said junior teammate Allen Zheng, who also attended the Alta invitational.

Palo Alto High School has typically been successful at Alta in previous years, and Chen himself has earned bids in both his appearances there. Last year, he broke through the field of 359 debaters to earn a bid in the quarterfinal round.

“It [the tournament] was harder [than last year] for sure because many more people came,” Chen said.

Chen’s second bid secures his place in the TOC, arguably the biggest debate tournament of the year.

“I feel relieved to get the bid, I guess,” Chen said.

Paly has been represented at the TOC seven of the last eight years, and Chen’s bid marks the debate program’s continued success.

Junior Esha Datta won 12th speaker at the Alta Invitational as she and senior Alex Carter reached the double octafinal round.

The next major tournament is the Santa Clara University tournament this Friday, Dec. 9.