• March 4, 2019

    29 qualify for national speech tournament

    Original Oratory qualifiers The Upper St. Clair High School Speech & Debate team scored a tournament-high 29 qualifiers to compete in the 2019 National Catholic Forensics League Grand National Tournament. The school with the next highest number of qualifiers was North Allegheny Senior High School with 16. The national qualifying event was held on Saturday, March 2, at Fort Couch Middle School.

    At 29, the Upper St. Clair team achieved the second highest number of qualifiers in school history. The USC record was set in 2016 with 33.

    For the qualifying competition, each of the 27 competing schools may enter up to four competitors per category. The top six in each event qualify to advance to nationals. The NCFL Pittsburgh District encompasses the greater Pittsburgh area from Butler to Washington counties.

    The 2019 NCFL Grand National Tournament will be held May 25-26, 2019, in Milwaukee, Wis.

    Next up for the USC Speech & Debate Team is National Speech & Debate Association national qualifiers on March 9, 2019, at North Allegheny Senior High School.  The NSDA National Tournament is set for June 16-21, 2019, in Dallas, Texas.

    The results from the NCFL qualifying event are provided below: 

    Policy Debate
    Fourth Place: Will Bacdayan & Shreya Golakiya
    Sixth Place: Rhea Punjabi & Ashley Eichberg
    Second Alternate: Haley Beardsley & Gabi Spina 

    Public Forum Debate
    Second Place: Yash Jajoo & Devan Ekbote
    Fourth Place: Mallika Matharu & Arushi Khaitan
    First Alternate: Anika Sinha & Mathena Jencka 

    Lincoln-Douglas Debate
    First Place: Matt Hornak
    Third Place: Anusha Neupane 

    Student Congress
    First Alternate: Caroline Wolfe 

    Declamation (9th and 10th Grade Only)
    Third Place: Patrick Joyce
    Fifth Place: Atharva Barve
    Third Alternate: Eileen Guo 

    Dramatic Performance (Drama & Humor)
    First Place (tie): Hashim Durrani
    First Place (tie) Riwk Sen
    Third Place: Mayka Chaves
    First Alternate: Maddie Nolen 

    Duo Interpretation
    Third Place: Ellen Duff & Amelia White
    Fifth Place: Felipe Mola Curi & Shivani Jajoo
    Sixth Place: Sammy Levy & Marlena Bononi 

    Extemporaneous Speaking
    First Place: Paarth Shankar
    Fifth Place: Meghan Joon
    Second Alternate: Chand Vadalia 

    Oral Interpretation of Literature (Poetry & Prose)
    First Place: Annika Chaves
    Third Place: Charlize Goff
    Second Alternate: Richa Mahajan 

    Original Oratory (Informative & Persuasive)
    First Place: Vivek Babu
    Third Place: Shanthi Krishnaswamy
    Fifth Place: Aya Dakroub
    Sixth Place: Neha Patel