Harvard-Westlake hosted a national debate tournament during the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend.

Debaters from all over the country participated in six divisions, including Middle School Parliament, Novice and Varsity Lincoln Douglas, World Schools, Debate LA Round Robin and Policy.

Students from the host school were only allowed to compete in World Schools and the round robin.

Connor Engel ’17, Aidan Luscinski ’17, Octavia Tyagi ’19, Nick Platt ’19 and Natalie Winters ’19 participated in the World Schools division and placed third overall.

Liz Yount ’17 also debated in World Schools as a member of Team USA. Her team placed second overall and she won first speaker.

“I loved competing with Team USA at the HW tournament because I was able to experience the thrill of debating while still having the comfort of being at school,” Yount said. “[Harvard-Westlake debate coach Mike] Bietz and his team always run the most efficient tournaments and I look forward to continuing to help in any way I can when I graduate.”

The debaters usually travel to different states to compete such as Nevada or Louisiana.

“It was really nice to be able to go to a tournament at our own school instead of having to travel really far to compete,” Octavia Tyagi ’19 said.