Loyola High School Speech and Debate

Congratulations to Luis Arbelaez and Nathaniel Tran for qualifying to an alternative position for California State Competition in 2017.

This weekend, Loyola High School Speech and Debate team travelled to Stanford University. Congratulations to the team for great achievements. Congrats especially to James Duchesneau for winning 6th place Speakers award. And, congratulations to Doug Wickham and Nathaniel Tran for breaking into outrounds in Lincoln Douglas debates.

Our Cubs attended the Mid-America Cup in Des Moines and the Long Beach State Tournament over the weekend with great success.

In Des Moines, Senior Chris Kymn was a quarterfinalist (top 8) in Lincoln-Douglas debate, earning him a second bid and fully qualified to attend the University of Kentucky Tournament of Champions next spring. Senior McKay Giller was a double-octafinalist.

At Long Beach, in Policy Debate, Juniors Aaron Chung and Reece Aguilar were octofinalists, Juniors Nick Rogers and Christian Paz were octofinalists in Lincoln Douglas debate. And, in his first tournament as a Cub, Freshman Taylor Martinez was an Octofinalist in novice Lincoln Douglas debate.

Senior Michael Harris finished his Loyola Lincoln-Douglas debate career as a quarter-finalist at the nation’s most-prestigious Tournament. Michael posted a 6-1 preliminary record, was recognized as 12th best speaker and missed the semi-final round by a single ballot. The Tournament awarded Senior Ben Koh an “at-large” entry, allowing him to participate in Lincoln-Douglas debate. Also attending were Juniors McKay Giller and Chris Kymn in Lincoln Douglas debate, and Seniors Connor McCabe and Justin Fang in policy debate. During the year, Loyola collected the second-most bids to the Tournament of Champions, continuing its national ranking as one of the most successful debate programs in the country.

At the State tournament, Juniors Curtis Wang and Sean Davis finished the tournament with a top 12 finish in policy debate. Also participating in policy debate were Aaron Chung and Reece Aguilar and in Lincoln Douglas debate, Christian Paz.

This weekend at the National Forensic League qualifying tournament, Loyola swept the top 4 places in policy debate. First place went to Seniors ; Second place went to Juniors Curtis Wang and Sean Davis. First and Second qualified for the NFL National tournament to be held in Birmingham, Alabama in June. In third place and first alternates were Sophomores Reece Aguilar and Aaron Chung. In Fourth place, and second alternates were the Freshman team of Miles Gray and Pablo Munoz.

Senior Benjamin Koh was awarded the District’s Student of the Year Award. The NFL District Student of the Year honor is given to a graduating senior who exemplifies the very highest character, community service, academic excellence, and contributions to the ideals, goals and purposes of Forensics. Upon my nomination, Ben was selected by the District Committee over many qualified students in our District. He is now in contention for the National Forensic League’s National Student of the Year, to be determined in connection with the National Tournament in Birmingham in June.

Loyola won first place overall for Sweepstakes in debate (most success in debate as at team). Loyola was also awarded the prestigious Leading Chapter Award for sustained excellence over several years.

The debate team attended the Western Bay Forensic League State Qualifying tournament held at Narbonne HS this weekend. Cub debaters were crowned league champions in both Lincoln-Douglas and policy debate and are looking forward to the State tournament to be held this year in Valencia in April.

The Cubs qualifying include:

Sophomore Christian Paz in Lincoln-Douglas debate, with a first place finish. In policy debate, Cubs swept the top four positions and all qualified to State: Seniors Justin Fang & Connor McCabe, Sophomores Reece Aguilar & Aaron Chung, Juniors Sean Davis & Curtis Wang and Freshmen Pablo Munoz & Miles Gray. Freshman Kenny Von Blackmon and Matt Fang were third alternates in policy debate.

This Saturday, WBFL will be hosting the State Qualifiers for Debate at Narbonne High School. I have included the address, roster, and schedule below. Remember that this is a double elimination tournament. Once an individual or team has lost 2 debates, they are eliminated from the tournament. If they don’t lose these two, they remain until the slots for the State Championship are filled. So you need to plan on committing to the entire day. Please call or email with questions.
Address
Narbonne High School
24300 South Western Avenue, Harbor City, CA 90710
Roster
LD
Nick Froelich
Blake Harriman
Zohair Madhani
Paul Ostrick
Christian Paz
Christian Welling
Joe Zumwalt

Policy
Reece Aguilar/Aaron Chung
Kenny-von Blackmon/ Matt Fang
Justin Fang/Connor McCabe
Curtis Wang/Sean Davis
Miles Gray/Pablo Munoz

SCHEDULE:
8:00 AM Registration (Coaches and Judges)
8:15 AM JUDGING INSTRUCTIONS – All judges must be checked in.
9:00 AM Round 1
10:30 AM Round 2
12:00 PM Lunch
12:30 PM Round 3
2:00 PM Round 4
3:30 PM Round 5
5:00 PM Dinner
5:30 PM Round 6 – as necessary
7:00 PM Round 7 – as necessary
8:30 PM Round 8 – as necessary
10:00 PM Awards

Hello to everyone. These are the Debate announcements for the week of March 3-9.

Practices

Novices will meet with the Varsity this week on Tuesday from 2:40-5 pm.

Upcoming Tournaments

The next tournament is the State Qualifiers on March 9th at Narbonne High School. This is a two round elimination tournament. This means that a participant is dropped after losing 2 rounds. So, it is possible that a student can be competing until late into the night on that Saturday. Please be prepared for this. Students who qualify for the State Competition go on to the state competition in April to represent our league and the school.

The following are the novices that I would like to see in the tournament. I have not paired up the policy teams yet. I am going to wait to see what the availability of members is. If you cannot go please email me as soon as possible. If you are not on the list and would like to go please email me as soon as possible.

John Biggers
Kenny von Blackmon
Matt Fang
Matt Gerlits
Jarad Gonzalez
Miles Gray
Blake Harriman
Nick Ingram
Zohair Madhani
John Mousseau
Pablo Munoz
Hunter Nagai
Paul Ostrick
Andrew Perez
Nick Rogers
Nahom Seifu
Joseph Strawn
Joe Zumwalt

Please get back to me soon if you cannot go or would like to be added to the list.

Mr. James Zucker
Loyola Speech and Debate
[email protected]
(310) 309-7045

Hello to everyone. These are the Debate announcements for the week of Feb. 21-March 1st.

Practices

Novices are now considered Varsity. They will be preparing for the State Qualifiers in early March. All novices will meet with the Varsity team on Tuesdays from 3:40-5 pm. This is their only mandatory practice during the week.

Upcoming Tournaments

The next tournament is the State Qualifiers on March 9th at Narbonne High School. This is a two round elimination tournament. This means that a participant is dropped after losing 2 rounds. So, it is possible that a student can be competing until late into the night on that Saturday. Please be prepared for this. Students who qualify for the State Competition go on to the state competition in April to represent our league and the school.

Parent Meetings

Please remember the parent meeting this Tuesday night, February 26th, at 6:30 in Otero Hall. This is for information regarding Summer Camps. It is extremely important that all parents of students who want to continue with debate next year to attend. Dinner will be provided. The meeting should only last about a half hour.

Thank you and always feel free to contact me through the Loyola Speech and Debate page, my email, or at my cell phone number.

Mr. James Zucker
Loyola Speech and Debate
[email protected]
(310) 309-7045

Hello to everyone:

Thanks for a great weekend at Berkeley. Congrats to the guys on a great tournament. We of course had an amazing performance from Michael Harris. He not only won the tournament in LD. He also did not drop one judge ballot the entire tournament.

Congrats to Chris Kymn, McKay Giller, Otis Chandler, Christian Paz, Connor McCabe, Justin Fang, Andrew Perez, Nick Rogers, Kenny-von Blackmon, and Matt Fang on clearing into outrounds.

Donations for the tournament are due this Thursday. They are $300. Please make out all checks to Loyola High School. Please put your son's name in the memo section. All late donations will result in a day of JUG.