First debate tournament lacking in participation, but still fruitful

On Oct. 20, as sophomores and juniors arrived at the school to take the dreaded PSAT, some members of the speech and debate team departed for Gunn High School for the first league debate tournament of the year.

Although select members of the debate team have been to tournaments, the competition gave a chance for coaches and captains alike to see the debate team on the large scale.

Although the school did not win anything, the debaters did well, according to sophomore Jerry Yang.

“By now we know that our captains are good, but after the first full team tournament, we can see where the whole team’s going this year,” Yang said.

The tournament was especially important for new members to be in a competitive environment.

“I wish more [new members] had gone, so I could see their progress better,”  senior Venkat Munukutla said.

Others, who were taking a four-hour PSAT at the same time, were upset at the decision to make the tournament on the same day.

Sophomore Rohith Krishna and the majority of sophomores and juniors did not attend the tournament due to this conflict.

The next tournament, the Santa Clara Invitational on Nov. 17, will be the last debate tournament for the first semester.

“Having a league to warm up before SCU would be much better,” Krishna said.

The speech and debate team looks at this year with high hopes, stemming from last year’s success.

Selected Lincoln-Douglas debaters senior Venkat Munukuntla, sophomore Rohith Krishna, and sophomore Deepti Kannan have been to a few tournaments already. At the Leland High league tournament Munukuntla achieved a 4-0 record, and at the St. Francis High tournament on Sept. 22, Krishna and Munukuntla made the octofinals and quarterfinals respectively.

Captains of parliamentary debate, senior captains Shauray Aggarwal and Justin Chiang won the Bishop O’Dowd Invitational placing first, and since it was the first tournament of the year, they rank first in the state.

Juniors Parth Kejriwal and Justin Liu, who participate in Public Forum, made quarterfinals at the Harker Invitational.

“The juniors last year were great, and now they are seniors with one more year of experience,” Krishna said. “We sophomores and juniors also have a lot of potential.”