Harrison Debater Named Top Speaker at Harvard

The following post was submitted by the Harrison Central School District, to post your news on Patch.

Harrison sophomore Danny DeBois was named the top speaker out of 307 varsity debaters in the Harvard University’s National Lincoln-Douglas Debate Tournament over President’s Day weekend. 

Seven of Harrison’s students competed in a field of nearly 550 varsity and junior varsity debaters from across the country.

Our five varsity and two junior varsity debaters had to compete in six preliminary rounds. In each division, the top 64 competitors advanced to triple-octofinals, followed by a series of further elimination rounds. Not one of the seven HHS debaters had losing records and four advanced to the elimination rounds.

DeBois was undefeated in preliminary rounds, reached the triple-octofinal round, cleared as the tournament’s top seed and was named top speaker.

“Given the strength of the field, which included the strongest speakers and debaters in the country, this is a truly incredible accomplishment,” said HHS Debate Coach Chetan Hertzig.

Senior Ally Brabant reached the octofinal round or round of 16. By doing so, she earned her coveted second “bid” to the Tournament of Champions. The TOC is a qualification-only event held in Lexington, KY, in May for the top 70 debaters in the country.

“Many debaters spend all four years of high school trying to qualify for the Tournament of Champions,” said Hertzig.  “We are thrilled to have qualified two debaters in the span of three years.”

In the junior varsity competition, freshman Michael Scoli reached the triple-octofinals or top 64 and freshman Amy Geller reached the double-octofinals or top 32.  

Varsity debaters junior Hayley Kronthal and senior Christina Loguidice has strong records of 3 wins and 3 losses and junior Patty-Jane Geller just missed elimination rounds on speaker points, having amassed and impressive record of 4 wins and 2 losses.

Next up for the team is Lakeland High School this weekend, followed by highly competitive tournaments at Stuyvesant High and Bronx High School of Science in the month of March.