After the most recent tournaments, the debate team earned a total of 33 bids to the Tournament of Champions, an invitation only- national debate tournament.

Five Lincoln-Douglas debaters competed in the annual Glenbrooks Speech and Debate Tournament on Nov. 17-19 in Northbrook, IL.

Jaya Nayar ’20 finished second overall, making it to the finals. Samantha McLoughlin ’21 reached the semifinals. Chronicle Opinion Section Editor Vishan Chaudhary ’19 advanced to the quarterfinals, and Spencer Paul ’19 and Ari Davidson ’19 advanced to the octofinals.

“I’m super optimistic about our chances as we prepare for TOC because I believe in our team so much,” McLouglin said.

Nayar also received the 10th speaker award out of 176, while McLoughlin placed 12th and Davidson placed 14th.

Debaters also competed in the Alta Silver and Black Invitational tournament Nov. 29 to Dec.1 in Utah.
Nine students attended the the tournament, where several advanced to elimination rounds.

Nayar and Davidson placed in the third seed in Policy debate, receiving a second bid to the policy Tournament of Champions. They were the first debaters in over 20 years to qualify for the policy Tournament of Champions. Lincoln-Douglas debater McLoughlin was the second seed after the preliminary round.

“I think that the biggest thing going into TOC will be getting as much practice and expedience as possible,” McLoughlin said.

Nayar is one of 11 people to receive bids to the Tournament of Champions from the school so far; others included Alexandra Mork ’20, Davidson, Cronicle Assistant A&E Editor Joanna Im ’20, McLoughlin, Chaudhary, Assistant Opinion Editor Jessa Glassman ’20, Spencer Paul ’19, Matthew Paul ’21, George Zhang ’21, Andrew Gong ’21 and Olivia Feldman ’22.
More tournaments will occur which will provide more practice for the debaters who qualified to the Tournament of Champions, Nayar said.