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Briefly

Also, Happy Birthday Luke Stuttgen!

Not to be outdone by Mia, it was also Luke Stuttgen's birthday, Thursday. Happy birthday, Luke! What better way to spend your birthday than teaching debate!

Victory Briefs Publishing: Order Your 2012/2013 Topic Analysis Books

As the 2012/2013 Season fast approaches, remember to order your 2012/2013 Topic Analysis Books for LD, PF, and Victory Briefs' Policy Files. Ordering a subscription not only gives you a substantial discount when compared to purchasing the books individually, but also means that the books will be delivered directly to your email as soon as they are released. Follow the links below for more information.

Victory Briefs Store

2012/2013 Lincoln-Douglas Topic Analysis Subscription

2012/2013 Public Forum Topic Analysis Subscription

2012/2013 Victory Briefs Policy Files

Leah Shapiro Wins the 2013 Valley Mid-America Cup

Congratulations to St. Louis Park's Leah Shapiro for championing the 2013 West Des Moines Valley Mid-America Cup over Collegiate's Andrew O'Donohue. The decision was a 2-1 for Leah (Legried, Hymson, *Melin). Leah is coached by Christian Tarsney and Charles McClung, and Andrew is coached by Aracelis Biel and Mark Gorthey.  

Minnesota JV/Novice State Results: Prince Hyeamang and Sophie Ober Close Out JV, Kiley Eichelberger Wins Novice

Congratulations to Apple Valley sophomores Prince Hyamang and Sophie Ober for closing out Minnesota's JV State Tournament. Prince and Sophie are coached by Chris Theis, Ed Hendrickson, Josh You and David Quinn. 

In the Novice division Kiley Eichelberger a junior from Chanhassen defeated Edina Freshman Annie Amen in the final round to win the Novice State title. Congratulations to both debaters. Kiley is coached by Zach Prax

Shawn Xiong Wins the Isidore Newman Invitational

Congratulations to Cypress Woods' Xixiang "Shawn" Xiong for winning the 35th Isidore Newman Invitational! In finals, Shawn defeated Greenhill's Mitali Mathur on a 2-1 decision. Shawn is coached by Heath Martin and Jared Woods. Mitali is coached by Aaron Timmons and Rebecca Kuang. Isidore Newman is a semis bid to the Tournament of Champions.

Andrew O'Donohue Wins Columbia

Congratulations to Collegiate's Andrew O'Donohue for defeating Scarsdale's Noah Thaler to win the 2014 Columbia Invitational!

Advanced Theoretical Tips

More and more, there appears to be disconnects between judges and debaters on the virtues of using theory as a strategy practice. Theory debate has steadily garnered the reputation as a frivolous, unpleasant practice, labeled as a tool employed to garner “cheap wins,” a “crutch” for those who lack substantive debate skills, and even a mechanism to exclude underprivileged debaters from the activity.

However, I find that a lot of these issues are not inherent either to theory debate or strategic theory debate, but the way debaters run these arguments. While it may occur much less frequently nowadays, excellent theory debate does exist. The goal of this article is to establish guidelines to help debaters improve on theory debate, should they choose to engage in it. 

Andrew O'Donohue Wins Columbia

Congratulations to Collegiate's Andrew O'Donohue for defeating Scarsdale's Noah Thaler to win the 2014 Columbia Invitational!

Advanced Theoretical Tips

More and more, there appears to be disconnects between judges and debaters on the virtues of using theory as a strategy practice. Theory debate has steadily garnered the reputation as a frivolous, unpleasant practice, labeled as a tool employed to garner “cheap wins,” a “crutch” for those who lack substantive debate skills, and even a mechanism to exclude underprivileged debaters from the activity.

However, I find that a lot of these issues are not inherent either to theory debate or strategic theory debate, but the way debaters run these arguments. While it may occur much less frequently nowadays, excellent theory debate does exist. The goal of this article is to establish guidelines to help debaters improve on theory debate, should they choose to engage in it. 

Horace Mann Closes Out Columbia

Congratulation to Horace Mann's Sajan Mehrotra, Ethan Kim, Shay Soodak, and Alexa Mark for closing out the 2019 Columbia Invitational. In semi-finals, Sajan & Ethan defeated Delbarton's Andrew Fostiropoulos & Bryce Waldmann (Schaffer-Neitz, Gilbert, Bruster) and Walt Whitman's Zoe Kaufmann & Azraf Khan (Delsol, Neuman, Ringel).The following teams received bids to the 2019 Tournament of Champions:Delbarton FWHackley BWHorace Mann MKHorace Mann SMUnionville RZUrban IWWalt Whitman FHWalt Whitman KKAlexandra Ellerstein from the Bronx HS of Science is this year's Top Speaker.Full results can be found here. Congratulations to all!

Michael Ning Wins Columbia

Congratulations to Hunter College's Michael Ning for winning the 2019 Columbia University Invitational. In finals, Michael defeated Harrison's Ava Zinman. Congratulations to Michael for also being top speaker.Full results and pairings can be found here.

Poly Prep wins the Barkley Forum

Congratulations to Daniel Fernandez & Noah Kaye of Poly Prep for winning the 2019 Barkley Forum. In finals, Poly Prep defeated Corona Del Sol's Ryan Jiang & Sreya Pattipati (Shurtz, McFarland, Lingel, Hamrick, DiMichele).The following teams received bids to the 2019 Tournament of Champions:Ames MABrophy SKCampbell Hall DLClayton-Bradley CCCorona Del Sol JPEdgemont SeKoFairmont Prep ORKing MPKempner BSLake Highland Prep KOPoly Prep FKQuarry Lane SVRavenwood BJRichard Montgomery HZTheodore Roosevelt ACUnionville KRAlbi Manfredi of Lake Mary Prep is this year's Top Speaker.Full results can be found here. Congratulations to all!

Rex Evans Wins Harvard-Westlake

Congratulations to Santa Monica's Rex Evans for winning the 2019 Harvard-Westlake Debates. In finals, Rex defeated Greenhill's Anna Myers on a 3-0 decision (Phillips, Pandey, Stidham).Full results and pairings can be found here.

David Edwards Wins Durham

Congratulations to Charlotte Catholic's David Edwards for winning the 2019 Cavalier Invitational at Durham Academy. In finals, David defeated Collegiate School's Christopher Wong.Full results and pairings can be found here.

Andrew Garber Wins Lex

Congratulations to Cambridge Rindge & Latin School's Andrew Garber for winning the 2019 Lexington Winter Invitational. Andrew was declared the champion based on seeding. Congratulations to Andrew for also being top speaker.Full results and pairings can be found here.

Harvard-Westlake Closes Out the debateLA RR

Congratulations to Harvard-Westlake's Spencer Paul and Vishan Chaudhary for closing out the 2019 debateLA Round Robin. In semifinals, Spencer defeated Greenhill's Anna Myers on a 3-0 decision (Robertson, Eisenstadt, Cooper) and Vishan defeated Santa Monica's Rex Evans on a 2-1 decision (Paramo, Randall, Zhou*).Full results and pairings can be found here.

Lake Mary Prep wins Sunvitational

Congratulations to Lake Mary Prep's Andrew Huang and Albi Manfredi for winning the 2019 Sunvitational at University School, NSU. In finals, Lake Mary Prep defeated Cypress Bay's Josh Gavsie and Miles Berger (Johnston, Winick, Duell, Stage, Moore).The following teams received bids to the 2019 Tournament of Champions:American Heritage CZBronx Science OBBronx Science SOBrentwood KACharlotte Latin SGCranbrook KLCypress Bay BGCypress Bay SNLake Highland FKLake Highland SBLake Mary Prep HMOxbridge GSRansom Everglades RKRansom Everglades SSRavenwood BJWinston Church MHBronx Science ZE* (ghost)Congratulations to Nicholas Mancini & Giorgio Rabbini of North Broward Prep for tying for Top Speaker and receiving straight 30's!Full pairings can be found here. Congratulations to all!