Maybe it’s the thrill of victory. Maybe it’s the love of rapid note-taking. Whatever the reason, one thing is clear: Jesuit debaters continue to succeed week after week.
This statement held true January 28th and February 4th as the Rangers qualified an impressive sixth team to state and secured a top ten finish against national competition.
The action began in late January at the prestigious Emory University with the Barkely Forum Debates where Jake LoRocco ’17 and Emmanuel Ruiz ’17 finished ninth overall and fellow seniors Beomhak Lee and Alandro Valdez finished thirty-fifth. Both came out of the preliminary rounds with 4-2 records, but only LoRocco and Ruiz advanced to the elimination rounds as they take only the top thirty-two. There, they defeated Greenhill in round one before falling to Montgomery Bell (Nashville) in round two.
Coach Dan Lingel wrote, “The Barkely Forum Debates are one of the oldest and most historic tournaments in the country and Jesuit has competed in this tournament since becoming a member school in the Barkley Forum in the 1970s.”
Later, over the weekend of February 4th, 12 Jesuit debate pairs competed in two tournaments closer to home: the Royce City Invitational and the Colleyville Heritage Invitational.
At Royce City, sophomores Jack Griffiths ’19 and Riler Holcombe ’19 were able to qualify to state with their third place finish, the sixth Jesuit team to do so. Their classmates Ashik Amar ’19 and Giovanni Ferrer-Falto ’19 came in just behind them, securing 5th place.
At Colleyville Heritage, varsity debaters LoRocco and Ruiz again earned ninth, while freshmen novices also came up big. Javier Arroyo ’20 and Marshall Mann ’20 finished second, and fellow freshmen Thomas Cluck and Garrett Nagorzanski finished third.
“Jesuit and Austin Westwood currently are the only two schools in the state to qualify six teams or more to [state],” said Lingel.
Keep checking in to see how many more Jesuit can qualify!
