Whether it be strategizing as a group on a Thursday afternoon or speed reading evidence at a high school miles away, Jesuit debate continues to lead going into the 2022-2023 season. As varsity teams finish their second major tournament at St. Mark’s School of Texas, here is a recap of their standings.
Standings
All senior team Tejas Murugesh and Lawrence Jin finished 4-2 in the preliminary rounds, losing a close debate to a team from Glenbrook South High School in the Double-Octofinals.
Juniors Ben Brainard and Caden Cutchall finished 3-3 in the preliminary rounds, winning the last two rounds to break even.
Junior/Sophomore Combo Brandon Gibson and Leo Ramirez finished with a 2-4 record, and dream team Peter Loh and Luke Lastelick finished 1-5.
Favorite Memory at St. Marks?
Next, I interviewed some debaters on their favorite experiences at the tournament. Here’s what they had to say:
Q. What are some things you felt went well for this year’s debate season so far?
Peter: I think that our knowledge with the topic has been really good this year, especially on specific issues like cyber security and geopolitics. Because the topic of the year is extremely relevant, with Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and great power competition, I think I am more engaged with the topic.
Tejas: I definitely think that after Grapevine, I had a lot more focus on what I wanted to do and focus on the priorities that I wanted. At Grapevine, we had quite a bit of losses in very small areas, so I focused on these areas and was able to perfect my strategy and find new strategies to do and I think that was the way that I was able to rebound.
Q. What are some things the collective should strive to work on?
Peter: I think one thing the collective should continue to work on would be meetings with our coaches, which are extremely important to the development of skills for debate.
Tejas: I definitely think some communication between all members of the debate team would be helpful. I feel like we can also work a bit more on our work in terms of evidence and research. I think while we’re all really good debaters, if we can work more collectively and have more communication, then I think it would ease the workload because there’s a lot of similarity in different arguments that people read, so everyone putting in a little more work would give everyone an easy schedule.
Q. What’s your most memorable experience at St. Marks?
Peter: The most memorable experience of St. Marks’ was being trapped in a room with Luke Lastelick whilst debating online for 2 days, we got to talk amongst ourselves a lot more because we were debating online and Luke and I got to bond more closely not just as debate partners but as friends.
Looking Forward
Varsity Debate has a promising season ahead of them as they embark on their next tournament at the Hockaday School this weekend!
Stay tuned for more debate news!