Speech & Debate Team prepares for nationals
The Upper St. Clair High School Speech & Debate team capped off the regular season Saturday, March 11 with a debate sweepstakes championship, second place in speech and second overall sending at least eight students to the National Speech & Debate Association Nationals June 18-23, 2017, in Birmingham, Ala.
On March 4, 21 students – the largest number from a Pennsylvania school – qualified to compete in the National Catholic Forensics League Nationals set for May 27-28 in Louisville, Ky.
In addition, the USC Speech & Debate Team captured its seventh consecutive District #3 championship on Feb. 25 at the District #3 Pennsylvania High School Speech League Qualifier.
“For comparison's sake, the District #3 championship would be akin to a Section in local sports,” Benjamin Edwards, English teacher and Speech & Debate Team sponsor, said. “The two national leagues would mirror WPIALs.”
The following students earned individual honors:
NSDA Nationals (Top TWO advance; Western PA):- Lincoln-Douglas Debate (LD) - Caleb Troughtzmantz (undefeated champion, 6-0); Amna Amin
- Public Forum Debate (PFD) - Macey Kaplan & Arushi Kewalramani
- Original Oratory (OO) - Tana Mahajan
- Program Oral Interpretation (POI) - Charlize Goff
- Humorous Interpretation (HI) - Shebl Rosati
- Alternates: Jacob Lantzman & Yash Lahoti (PFD), Allison Lento (HI), Hashim Durrani (POI), Chand Vadalia (US Extemporaneous Speaking), Hridhay Reddy (USX), Vicki Wang (Informative Oratory)
NCFL Nationals (Top FIVE advance; Greater Pittsburgh Area):
- Lincoln-Douglas Debate: Amna Amin (undefeated, 4-0), Ariana Chiu (undefeated, 4-0), Neale Misquitta, Raahema Durrani. All USC competitors qualified.
- Public Forum Debate: Macey Kaplan & Arushi Kewalramani (Undefeated, 4-0)
- Policy Debate: Jacob Lantzman & Dina Leyzarovich
- Original Oratory: Vicki Wang (Champion), Krisha Monpara
- Extemporaneous Speaking: Rod Smith (Champion), Paul Abrams, Ethan Bowman
- Oral Interpretation: Hannah Sanner (Champion), Hashim Durrani
- Dramatic Interpretation: Erik Warmbein (Champion), Allison Lento
- Duo Interpretation: Wyatt Keating and Shebl Rosati (Champions)
- Declamation: Paarth Shankar, Loren White
- Alternates: Daniel Speer, Yash Lahoti, Tyler Besselman (Congress), Amanda Ross & Abby Riemer (Policy), Steven Cheung & Aritro Nandi (PFD), Tana Mahajan (OO)
PHSSL States (Top THREE Advance in most events; South Hills Area):
- Lincoln-Douglas Debate: Amna Amin (Champion), Raahema Durrani (both undefeated, 4-0)
- Public Forum Debate: Macey Kaplan & Arushi Kewalramani (Champions), Jacob Lantzman & Yash Lahoti, Anvi Kumar & Harshini Sakthivel (All Undefeated, 4-0)
- Parliamentary Debate: Caleb Troughtzmantz, Neale Misquitta & Ethan Bowman (Champions), Kristen Buckholt, Ariana Chiu, Ava White, Krisha Monpara, Abby Riemer, Amanda Ross (Swing Team)
- Senate: Tyler Besselman
- House: Daniel Speer
- Extemp: Alex Wolfe
- Commentary: Rod Smith (only competitor from any school in any event with four 1st place rankings; Champion)
- Informative: Vicki Wang
- Duo Interpretation: Anber Bhuiyan & Aya Dakroub (Champions)
- Humorous: Allison Lento (Champion), Laura Lapham
- Dramatic: Wyatt Keating (Champion)
- Prose: Hashim Durrani
- Poetry: Charlize Goff
- Radio Announcing: Erik Warmbein
- Impromptu: Paul Abrams
- Alternates: Amanda Ross (LD), Abby Riemer (Senate), Chand Vadalia (Extemp), Paul Abrams (Comm), Neha Patel (Persuasive), Krisha Monpara (Informative), Hannah Sanner (Prose), Rita Beauchamp (Poetry)
“Congrats to all the competitors who qualified and also to those who came so close,” Mr. Edwards said.
Next up for the Speech & Debate Team is the 2017 PHSSL State Tournament March 16-18, at Bloomsburg University.
