All six debaters who competed at the Golden Desert Invitational Debate Tournament in Las Vegas Feb. 2-4 made it to the elimination rounds of the tournament and five won speaker awards. Julie Engel ’14 lost in the final round of the tournament on a 2-1 decision from a 3 person panel.

Engel received her third bid to the Tournament of Champions by participating in the semifinal round of the tournament. Debaters need two bids, each earned by getting to an advanced round in an individual tournament, to qualify for the national competition, which will be held April 27-29 at the University of Kentucky. Six members of the debate team have already qualified for the TOC.

Amelia Miller ’15 lost in the quarterfinal round of the tournament, also on a 2-1 decision.

During the first six rounds of the tournament, debaters received a score of up to thirty speaker points. Overall, Tommy Choi ’14 won Fourth Speaker, Miller received Ninth Speaker, William Gingold ’14 won 12th Speaker, Andrew Sohn’13 won 13th Speaker and Engel won 14th Speaker.

Annie Kors ’14 and Michael O’Krent ’14 joined the team in Las Vegas to coach fellow debaters between rounds, along with Head Coach Mike Bietz.