Jesuit Debate concluded its post season with massive success at the Texas Forensics Association State tournament and the Woodward Academy Novice and JV Nationals tournament.
TFA State
The Texas Forensics Association (TFA) State tournament finished the Jesuit Debate season on the Texas circuit. The most prestigious tournament for Texas, qualifying for the tournament required 12 “state points.” State points are earned for top place finishes at major state tournaments. Jesuit qualified five teams to the tournament and achieved great success during the tournament.
In the preliminary rounds, Chris Tran ’19 and Jack Griffiths ’19 went 5-0, while team Jack Moore ’19 and Riler Holcombe ’19 along with team of Ethan Jackson ’19 and Giovannie Ferrer-Falto ’19 went 4-1. Ben Miller ’18 and Max Arroyo ’20 went 3-2, and Pete Weigman ’19 and Jack Madden ’19 went 2-3.
Jesuit cleared four teams to double octafinals, one of only three schools to achieve such an accomplishment. In the doubles, Tran and Griffiths won their elimination round against Hebron, advancing to the octafinals along with Moore and Holcombe, advancing over Westwood High School from Austin. Jackson and Ferrer-Falto dropped to Greenhill, and Miller and Arroyo lost to Woodlands High School from The Woodlands. Overall, Jesuit earned two top ten finishes, and two top twenty finishes.
Jackson said “It was harder at state because it was the biggest tournament I’ve been to this year.”
Holcombe commented that “the competition was tough. We came in knowing about some hard teams and they lived up to the challenge. We also faced some teams that weren’t as good as we expected, but overall the experience was harder than normal.”
Woodward Academy Novice and JV Nationals
Jesuit also attended the Woodward Tournament in Atlanta, Georgia, where the best first and second year debaters came to debate it out. Garrett Nagorzanski ’20 and Adam Hall ’20 competed in the JV division, and freshmen Joshua Ramos and Jack Martin, and freshmen Kyle Cribbins and Drew Campbell competed in the novice division. The sophomore duo went 6-0 in the preliminary rounds, but dropped in the octafinals to Montgomery Bell Academy from Tennessee. The freshmen teams both went 3-3.
Hall reflected on his time at Woodward: “I was very excited to go undefeated at Woodward, but I was crushed to lose in the octas.”
Nagorzanski said “I’m pretty happy with our finish at Woodward. I would have liked to win in elims, but the feedback definitely gave us some concrete areas to improve.” The competition was “different from the regular season in that teams were reading arguments that are less common locally. I think our debates were more competitive.”
Looking forward
Jesuit has one more tournament left this year: The National Debate Coaches Association National Tournament in Atlanta, Georgia. Beyond that, the debate team also has big plans for the summer. Among the most ambitious are Holcombe and Moore, who are participating in the Hoya Spartans Scholars 7-week program, an intensive camp that takes place in both Georgetown and Michigan State. Every varsity team member is going to camps for four weeks or longer, and many of the freshmen are going for two weeks or longer.
Hall says, “my goal is to improve and become a junior debater who is able to travel to many national tournaments.”
Jackson put his goal most simply: “Get good.”
Stay tuned to the Roundup for the latest Ranger debate news.
