2016 John Edie Holiday Debates at Blake
Finalist Interviews
Alex Zhao (La Canada AZ), Champion
Question: Was there a particular round you debated at this tournament in which you really enjoyed the argument interaction/clash in?
Alex Zhao: I enjoyed my doubles round with John Boals from Apple Valley. The aff contained stock arguments about information bubbles and the importance of free speech to democracy. The round came down to interesting questions about evidence quality and comparison, and I thoroughly enjoy those kinds of debates.
Q: What was your favorite Neg position?
AZ: The endowments disad. I think it’s good because it directly impacts the quality of education that students receive at colleges, which is a core part of the topic controversy. It’s also very flexible and can be read against a variety of affs.
Q: How do you like this topic compared to others you’ve debated and why?
AZ: The topic has a greater focus on philosophical and legal questions than I am used to, but that doesn’t necessarily mean debates will be limited to those topics. As debaters delve more deeply into free speech protections, I think a lot of the ambiguity surrounding the wording of the resolution might be cleared up. I’m looking forward to greater argument diversity at the next few tournaments.
Main Tournament
Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Round 4
Round 5
Round 6
Bracket
Speaker Awards
- TJ Foley (West DM Valley TF)
- Zoe Ewing (Scarsdale ZE)
- Katherine Fenell (Stuyvesant KF)
- Brianna Aaron (Newark Science BA)
- Conal Thomas-McGinnis (West DM Valley CT)
- Ashish Wadhwani (Dulles AW)
- Lauren Singer (Scarsdale LS)
- Evan McKinney (West DM Valley EM)
- Alex Zhao (La Canada AZ)
- Grant Brown (Millard North GB)
Partial Triple Octafinals
Weest DM Valley KK def. New Trier BS (Ahlstrom, Legried, Zhou)
Oakwood LB def. Randolph AP (Jalan, Pai, Smith)
West DM Valley BG def. Appleton East SM (Brundage, Shmikler, Weine)
West DM Valley TF (Bye)
Lexington VV (Bye)
Scarsdale LS (Bye)
West DM Valley MS (Bye)
West DM Valley CT (Bye)
Lexington RW (Bye)
Evanston Township DF (Bye)
Peninsula JL (Bye)
Millard North GB (Bye)
Peninsula IG (Bye)
Scarsdale ML (Bye)
Scarsdale ZE (Bye)
Collegiate DM (Bye)
Oakwood AW (Bye)
West DM Valley LB (Bye)
Apple Valley JB (Bye)
West DM Valley EM (Bye)
West DM Valley LG (Bye)
West DM Valley TG (Bye)
Holy Cross RS (Bye)
Walt Whitman CC (Bye)
La Canada AZ (Bye)
University AG (Bye)
West DM Valley SC (Bye)
Newark Science BA (Bye)
Dulles AW (Bye)
Stuyvesant AS (Bye)
Stuyvesant KF (Bye)
Stuyvesant PY (Bye)
Double Octafinals
Stuyvesant PY walks over Stuyvesant AS (Bye)
Scarsdale ML walks over Scarsdale LS (Bye)
West DM Valley TF walks over West DM Valley BG (Bye)
West DM Valley CT walks over West DM Valley LB (Bye)
La Canada AZ def. Apple Valley JB (Lai, Eastlund, Baez)
West DM Valley SC def. Lexington VV (Smith, Larson, Jordan)
Peninsula JL def. Holy Cross RS (Sabin, Luevano, Jordan)
Collegiate DM def. West DM Valley EM (Pai, Broomfield, Anderson)
Evanston Township DF def. West DM Valley MS (Vincent, Smith, Evans)
Stuyvesant KF def. West DM Valley KK (Vincent, Smith, Evans)
Newark Science BA def. University AG (Thew, Shields, Nubel)
Scarsdale ZE def. West DM Valley LG (You, Page, Legried)
Walt Whitman CC def. Oakwood AW (You, Smith, Shapiro)
Millard North GB def. Oakwood LB (Zhou, Shmikler, Davis)
West DM Valley TG def. Peninsula IG (Shields, Carlson, Brundage)
Dulles AW def. Lexington RW (Montague, Weine, Martinez)
Octafinals
Scarsdale ZE def. Evanston Township DF (Zhou, Smith, Kaczmarek)
West DM Valley CT def. Stuyvesant PY (Weine, Carlson, Brundage)
Millard North GB def. West DM Valley TG (You, Weine, Pai)
Dulles AW def. Peninsula JL (Ruffin, Jordan, Abdul-Aziz)
Newark Science BA def. West DM Valley SC (Williams, Green, Evans)
West DM Valley TF def. Walt Whitman CC (You, Pai, Eastlund)
La Canada AZ def. Collegiate DM (Page, Jordan, Carlson)
Scarsdale ML def. Stuyvesant KF (Smith, Kaczmarek, Jalan)
Quarterfinals
West DM Valley TF walks over West DM Valley CT
La Canada AZ def. Scarsdale ML (Carlson, Kaczmarek, Tarsney)
Dulles AW def. Millard North GB (Evans, Ruffin, Theis)
Scarsdale ZE def. Newark Science BA (Jalan, McGinnis, Zhou)
Semifinals
West DM Valley TF def. Dulles AW (Kaczmarek, Mattson, Shields)
La Canada AZ def. Scarsdale ZE (Alessandro, Carlson, Tarsney)
Finals
La Canada AZ def. West DM Valley TF (Shields, Liriano, Mattson)
Champion
Alex Zhao (La Canada AZ)
Scouting Report
Bid Level: Quarterfinals
Entries: 122 (As of 12/11)
Debaters With Bids (As of 12/11):
Apple Valley JB (1)
Collegiate KY (2)
Collegiate DM (1)
Dulles AW (2)
La Canada AZ (3)
Lexington RW (1)
Millard North GB (3)
Millard North TQ (1)
Newark Science BA (2)
Peninsula JL (6)
Peninsula IG (3)
Scarsdale ZE (4)
Scarsdale GZ (2)
Scarsdale LS (2)
Stuyvesant AS (1)
Stuyvesant KF (1)
Bronx Science ZP (1)
Walt Whitman CC (1)
West Des Moines Valley TG (4)
West Des Moines Valley TF (3)
West Des Moines Valley EM (3)
West Des Moines Valley CR (1)
West Des Moines Valley KK (1)
West Des Moines Valley MS (1)
West Des Moines Valley SC (1)
