Lexington

Finalist Interviews

Nina Potischman (Hunter NP), Co-Champion

Question: What did you find the hardest case to answer at this tournament?
Nina Potischman: Probably Scarsdale’s constitutionality aff, which says that the neg burden is to prove that negating is consistent with legal norms. Since Supreme Court decisions have pretty conclusively decided that the First Amendment applies to public universities, it’s functionally unturnable.

Q: What was your favorite Neg position?
NP: I find the heresy counterplan (disclosed on Jack’s wiki) amusing.

Q: How do you like this topic compared to others you’ve debated and why?
NP: I love this topic – there’s a ton of really interesting philosophical literature, and there’s a lot of ground on both sides. It’s a nice break, since the past few topics haven’t had much phil ground.

Q: Are there any positions/issues in debate that you’re passionate about that you’d like to speak about?
NP: I feel like a lot of framework /theory vs. K debates end up being overly simplistic and unproductive. It’s important that people engage directly with the specificities of their opponents’ positions – e.g. explaining why a specific shell/framework is problematic rather than why reading theory as a practice in general is something that should be stopped. A lot of these debates end up becoming redundant and vague, so I think that there would be much better engagement if people tried to address their opponents’ positions more directly.

Bid Level: Quarterfinals

Bracket

Octafinals

Cambridge Rindge and Latin OS def. Walt Whitman CC (Hu, Kapoor, Tarsney)
American Heritage School – Plantation DM def. Stuyvesant PY (Kymn, Torchio, Traber)
Hunter NP def. Scarsdale ML (Caldera, Quiroz, Sigalow)
Millburn CS def. Scarsdale GZ (Li, Pai, Wang)
Scarsdale ZE def. Walt Whitman XR (Curtis, Hossain, McGinnis)
West Des Moines Valley TG def. Lake Highland Prep AA (Bogaty, Gosain, Kenny)
Byram Hills JB def. Newark Science OA (Hertzig, Rung, Zhou)
Success Academy SC def. West Des Moines Valley TF (Kaczmarek, O’Connor, Warburton)

Semifinals

Cambridge Rindge and Latin OS def. Millburn CS (Jeng, Kapoor, Li)
Hunter NP def. Success Academy SC (Kaczmarek, O’Connor, Shatzkin)

Co-Champions

Oliver Sussman (Cambridge Rindge and Latin OS) and Nina Potischman (Hunter NP)

Harvard-Westlake

Bid Level: Octafinals

Bracket

Double-Octafinals

Harker SP def. Chaminade JT (Eckert, Peiris, Wheeler)
West Ranch JW def. Brentwood JD (Chapman, Gandra, Kuang)
Brentwood RY def. Dougherty Valley CS (Eckert, Koh, Walton)
Kinkaid JY def. Palo Alto CF (Bond, O’Krent, Smith)
Phoenix Country Day PW def. Katy Taylor CR (Castillo, O’Krent, Shackleford)
Greenhill SK def. Palo Alto BH (Kumar, Legried, Smith)
Strake Jesuit RC def. Marlborough GK (Agarwala, Legried, Paramo)
Peninsula JL def. Strake Jesuit JH (Chapman, Paramo, Scoggin)
Palo Alto FZ def. Mountain View VP (Castillo, Harris, Steele)
Lynbrook NS def. Brentwood EB (Kumar, Qi, Tambe)
Lynbrook HW def. San Marino KW (Agarwala, Gandra, Kuang)
Harrison RP def. Meadows ER (Qi, Steele, Tambe)
La Canada AZ def. Arcadia JC (Overing, Peiris, Zhou)
Immaculate Heart DD def. Rowland Hall-St. Mark’s KO (Overing, Luevano, Zhou)
Strake Jesuit MC walked over Strake Jesuit CL (Bye)
Lynbrook VV walked over Lynbrook CW (Bye)

Semifinals

Greenhill SK def. Brentwood RY (Qi, Paramo, Chapman)
La Canada AZ def. Harker SP (Steele, Saiedian, Legried)
*Judges who sat in semifinals aren’t indicated above as full results aren’t available online.

Finals

Greenhill SK def. La Canada AZ (Smith, Paramo, Fife)

Champion

Shruthi Krishnan (Greenhill SK)

Sunvitational

Finalist Interviews

Javier Navarrete (Christopher Columbus JN), Champion

Question: What was your favorite position that you read at this tournament?
Javier Navarrete: My favorite position I read this weekend would have to be the Tautology AC. The case had a burden structure dictating that public colleges are an extension of the state, and that the resolution was a question of should the state follow its own constitution. There wasn’t much offense that needed to link back to the burden structure, so I could spend most of the case reading pre-empts to Ks and Theory arguments.

Q: What do you think best prepared you for this tournament?
JN: I drilled with my coach Dino De La O a lot on the truth-testing debate, so that I was prepared to respond to critical affirmatives, and other positions that changed the focus of the judge’s role. I found that once I won framing against these positions, there wasn’t much offense they could link back to.

Q: How do you like this topic compared to others you’ve debated and why?
JN: While this topic does have LARP ground, when I compare it to other topics, there is much more emphasis on framework and kritiks on this topic than others in the past. I found that the majority of the rounds I’ve debated on this topic have boiled down to framing, instead of the topic itself. I like framework debates a lot more than debates on the topic itself.

Q: Are there any positions/issues in debate that you’re passionate about that you’d like to speak about?
JN: I know others have touched on this issue in the past, but I feel it is important to highlight that no one in this community should be-little or tell people what is the correct way to do things in debate. Debaters, especially minority students, should not feel bad about liking a specific style of debate. It is easy to say we should no longer have X style in debate, but no one wants to be constantly criticized because they like debating a certain way. I think Michael Kurian puts it best, “In a world where neo-liberalism seems to be running rampant and literally co-opting the way we speak, think and act, ideas of self expression need to be appreciated.”

Bid Level: Quarterfinals

Full Results Published Online

Octafinals

Pembroke Pines JF def. American Heritage RG (Lonam, Ortega, Sabate)
Christopher Columbus JN def. Bronx Science GM (Ahya, Evnen, Percival)
Bronx Science ZP def. Western High FB (Hamm, Clemens, Ciocca)
Lake Highland RS def. C Leon King High AkKa (Choudhary, Montecalvo, Schwab)
Lake Highland SG def. Pembroke Pines WW (Chica, Olson, Kang)
North Crowley LR def. Lake Highland SuSh (Choudhary, Montecalvo, Ortega)
William T Dwyer LM def. Pembroke Pines SS (Chica, Olson, Bornote)
Cypress Bay SD walked over Cypress Bay RF (Bye)

Quarterfinals

Bronx Science ZP def. Cypress Bay SD (Bornote, Lonam, Olson)
Christopher Columbus JN def. North Crowley LR (Sabate, Choudhary, Evnen)
Pembroke Pines JF def. William T Dwyer LM (Ortega, Chica, Montecalvo)
Lake Highland RS walked over Lake Highland SG (Bye)

Finals

Christopher Columbus JN def. Bronx Science ZP (Evnen, Caro, Lonam)

Champion

Javier Navarrete (Christopher Columbus JN)