The Lincoln-Douglas debate team excelled at the 37th Annual Stanford Invitational. Kaison Maruyama ’27 and Riya Iyer ’27 were semifinalists. Ellie Liou ’26 made it to the quarterfinals, but was walked over by semi finalist Iyer. Though this is uncommon, fellow teammates can get paired against each other, meaning that the one with a better record moves on. Novice debaters Noah Koo ’27 and Jack Fener ’27 also finished with records of 4-2, but did not qualify for the elimination rounds.
“In addition to being extremely fun, debate teaches good research skills and argumentative strategies,” Maruyama said. “Even though {elimination rounds} are stressful, I know I have a great team that will help me every step of the way.”
The varsity team also excelled, with Iris Chen ’23 finishing as a Quarterfinalist, and Andrew Wesel ’24, Nathalie Leung ’24, and William Liu ’25 all finished as Triplists. To become a varsity debater, you only need to compete in one Novice LD season and also be a 9th-12th grader. Though the topic usually changes every two to three months, their current topic, “justice requires open borders for human migration”, will stay the same for the rest of the year. Some tournaments that HW is participating in include the upcoming Novice Nationals in Atlanta, Georgia from March 17-19, and Varsity Tournament of Champions in Lexington, Kentucky from April 15-17.
