An Impressive Close to the Marlborough Debate Season

An Impressive Close to the Marlborough Debate Season

Wyeth R. '24 advances to the semifinals at the Middle School State Championship.

An Impressive Close to the Marlborough Debate Season

This weekend our 7th-grade debaters had a dominant performance at the Middle School State Championship tournament in San Jose. Competing against 6th, 7th, and 8th graders from across California, our students won an outstanding 68% of their debates, and every member of the team earned winning record. That is a very special performance at the Championship tournament for the Middle School season.

Ela D. '24 earned a winning record and just missed advancing to elimination rounds on speaker points. Rosetta M. '24 earned a 4-1 record and just missed advancing to elimination rounds on speaker points. Violet A. '24 earned a 3-1 record and advanced to the Octofinal elimination round. This means she is in the Top 16 Middle School Debaters in California! Wyeth R. '24 earned a 4-1 record and advanced all the way to Semifinals. This means she is in the Top 4 Middle School Debaters in California!

With the completion of our Middle School State Tournament this past weekend, Marlborough Debate's competitive season has come to a close. 

This year Marlborough students (Upper and Middle) competed in 883 competitive debate rounds spread over 30 tournaments, which altogether comprise 65 competition days. This equates to approximately 286 hours of competitive speaking. But in reality, each debate round is more work than that, with preparation, listening and tracking the other side's arguments, and planning rebuttal strategy. And this doesn't include time spent practicing and researching at home, at school, and between rounds at tournaments.

Congratulations to our three graduating seniors: Sophia D. '19, Amy J. '19, and Grace N. '19. In their time at Marlborough, Sophia represented us at 43 debate tournaments, Grace at 38, and Amy at 37 - that is approximately 250 days spent at debate tournaments. Combined, they participated in 788 debates; that is 1,097 hours of competitive debating, the equivalent of almost 46 full days. They are students of remarkable character whose influence will be felt long after they are gone, and we are forever grateful for the contributions they have made to the program.

 


More News