Every year, the Jesuit Debate Team hosts a state qualifying tournament on the Jesuit campus where teams from all regions of Texas are invited to participate. This year, the tournament was hosted on February 6th and 7th, with over 30 teams including over 200 debaters competing from Houston, Austin and the Greater Dallas area. Included in the tournament were both policy debate, where two teams compete against each other, and Lincoln-Douglas debate, which is one person versus another. As a host for other schools, the Jesuit debaters arrived early to set up the classrooms, cater food and administer all of the scheduling and registration for every coach and team. Head Debate Coach Dr. McFarland was impressed with the fashion that Jesuit hosted this tournament, a tournament which is “one of the last opportunities to earn state qualifying points.”
The tournament began with a set of preliminary debates, consisting of four teams in total with two sides taking the affirmative side and the other two claiming the negative side. After this first round, winners from both sides advanced in the “powermatching” round, similar to the style of Survive and Advancement NCAA tournament play. The powermatching style continued until the final elimination debates, noted as “March Madness condensed into a few hours” by Dr. McFarland. From this point forward, a series of single elimination matches occur, in which teams are seeded based on their results from powermatching. During the preliminary competitions, usually only one judge determines the winning duo and their respective style points. In the elimination rounds, a panel of 3-5 judges determine the point breakdowns and advancing teams into the next elimination round and eventually to the final elimination showdown which determines the champion.
Another aspect that distinguished Jesuit was the food they provided, which was more appealing than “the average ramen noodle or cold nacho plate at other tournaments.” Jesuit not only provided food for these debaters, but also created hand-blown glass trophies for first, second, and third place finishers in each division. Moreover, Jesuit worked close with the judges, who distribute speaker points to debaters with superb speech and style, to create Speaker Awards, which were jump drives awarded to the top ten speakers. Funded by the Texas Forensic Association, Jesuit’s Debate Team hopes to continue their popular state-qualifying tournament for years to come.
In order to qualify for the State Tournament, teams must have earned at least twelve state qualifying points over the course of the season. This March, 102 teams will be competing in El Paso for a chance to claim the state title. Noted as one of the most well-rounded teams in the states, Jesuit will be sending 5 teams, for a total of 10 debaters, of sophomores, juniors, and seniors to compete. The following teams have successfully qualified: Joe Hall ’16 & Jake Lorocco ’17, Emmanuel Ruiz ’17 & Emilio Lopez ’15, Ethan Tsao ’16 & Praneeth Kalva ’16, Patrick Bender ’16 & Chandler Dawson ’15, and Adam Wiechman ’15 & Bennett Harrison ’15.
Ultimately, hard work, dedication, and drilled practice have distinguished Jesuit Debate as one of the most polished programs in all of Texas. Junior Praneeth Kalva noted “that while this was my first Varsity opportunity,” attending practice and increasing commitment “have qualified me for the State Tournament, a feat [Tsao and I] didn’t originally think possible.” Continuing to practice under Dr. McFarland and recent Debate Hall of Fame qualifier coach Mr. Lingel, Jesuit will display a powerful force in El Paso. As the only team to ever “sweep 1st and 2nd place at the state level,” McFarland added, this deep team has the ability to continue its storied success at the statewide level into the National Tournament in April hosted in Las Vegas.
