In an unfamiliar environment, under the pressure to win, many might shy away from the challenge, but debaters face these challenges every time they compete, traveling to meets and going up against the best of the best.
Jesuit’s debaters in particular performed under pressure in October, finishing strong in meets at St. Marks School of Texas and the University of North Texas that showcased the crème de la crème.
On October 15th and 16th, the best 100 sophomore and varsity debate pairs in the nation convened at St. Mark’s to compete in two tournaments: the open division tournament and a six pod round robin. Seniors Beomhak Lee and Alandro Valdez debated in the open division tournament, earning 17th place in varsity. Over the course of the event, they came up against teams from New Mexico, Tennessee, and California, among others.
“Before the tournament, given the pool, which was filled with very nationally competitive teams, I was very nervous. However, the fact that we got to the elimination round gave me a sense of joy,” said Lee. “However, [I felt] a sense of disappointment as well because despite the first day’s undefeated record, in the second day of the tournament, including the elimination round, we had lots of losses.”
Although he and Valdez made it into the elimination round, he admitted that he and coach Tracy McFarland spoke about winning being the ultimate goal rather than simply advancing. “This would help us move forward to be more tenacious in our second or even third day of the tournament,” Lee explained.
In the six pod round robin, two sophomore teams gained valuable experience; a total of forty-two teams competed. Californian, Floridian, Georgian, Illinoian, and Texan teams debated the sophomores, Jack Griffiths and Riler Holcombe and Ethan Jackson and Chris Tran.
