The debate team continued its success, notching strong performances at the Barkley Forum in Atlanta, Golden Desert tournament and the Harvard-Westlake round robin, while also hosting a national debate tournament.
Harvard-Westlake hosted a national debate tournament during the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend. There were 117 entries, with Shruthi Krishan winning first speaker.
The round robin tournament featured 24 entries from across the country, with five Harvard-Westlake debaters competing. In the tournament, Connor Engel ’17 was a finalist and also won first speaker.
Chronicle News Associate Indu Pandey ’18, Connor Engel ’17 and Evan Engel ’17 competed in the Barkley Forum in Atlanta, with two semifinalists and one quarterfinalist finish.
“Both tournaments had a great pool of competitors. I was fortunate to make it to finals and semifinals respectively, but I couldn’t have done it without the efforts of my team,” Connor Engel said.
Debate coach Scott Phillips is pleased with the team’s performance and what they have accomplished this year.
“This has been a historic year for the Harvard-Westlake debate team,” Phillips said. “We lead the country in Tournament of Champions bids achieved and are one of a few schools in history to qualify both African-American and female person of color debaters to a national championship that has historically not been very diverse.”