Debate Team Continues to Impress
Last weekend, the Nueva debate team sent eight Public Forum debate teams, two Parliamentary debate teams, and two Lincoln Douglas debaters to the 2017 Stanford Debate Invitational — one of the largest tournaments in the country.
The Stanford tournament features six preliminary rounds, followed by elimination rounds for teams that finished with a record of 4-2 or better. If a team makes it to the octofinals round, it earns what is called a ‘bid.’ If a debate team secures a bid at two tournaments, it qualifies that team for the Tournament of Champions (ToC), which is essentially the world championship of debate.
In Public Forum debate, four teams continued on to the elimination rounds, where two teams dropped in triple octos and the other two dropped in octofinals. Two Nueva teams, Chris and Daniel and Alex and Will, had already qualified for the ToC, but another team, Griffin and Zubin, had only one bid and was looking to qualify at Stanford.
Griffin and Zubin finished the prelims 5-1, and advanced to octofinals, earning their bid and becoming the fifth Nueva team to qualify for the ToC. Unfortunately, they lost their octofinals round to Mission San Jose KW, a member of which was a ToC finalist last year. In the process of getting to octofinals, Griffin and Zubin hit fellow Nueva team Chris and Daniel.
Perhaps the most exciting result of the tournament, however, was the success of Noah and Pranav. The freshmen began the tournament 0-2, but then submarined their way all the way to octofinals, beating the number one seed in the entire tournament in the process of setting the Nueva record for earliest bid.
In such an event, one of the two teams is selected by the school to continue, while the other is automatically eliminated. Because Chris and Daniel had already qualified to the ToC, they ceded the opportunity to get a bid to Griffin and Zubin.
Perhaps the most exciting result of the tournament, however, was the success of Noah and Pranav. The freshmen began the tournament 0-2, but then submarined their way all the way to octofinals, beating the number one seed in the entire tournament in the process of setting the Nueva record for earliest bid.
In Parliamentary debate, only Neeraj and Paco made it to the elimination rounds. As has become known as the Nueva Parli Curse, Neeraj and Paco lost on a 1-2 decision in octofinals. The Curse is so called because Nueva Parliamentary debaters have dropped in octofinals four out of six times they’ve made it to elimination rounds.
In Lincoln Douglas, both Nueva debaters made it to the elimination rounds, with Jonathan dropping in triple octos and Adam dropping in double octos. All in all, Stanford has put Nueva second in the nation for the number of bids our debate team has earned.
Written by PACO P.
Contributor
