Foster High School - August 30-31, 2019
The new competitive season has finally arrived and as the team ventured out to its first competition, the field was largely represented by a few varsity members as the rest of the team readies itself for the full season ahead. At the George Ranch/Foster High School Swing hosted at George Ranch on August 30-31, a few of the team members began putting their state points on the board as they march toward the El Paso state tournament to be hosted in March. Among those with stellar finishes were Sarvesh Subramanian, who placed in the top eight of more than 80 LD Debate competitors at the meet, earning him four points toward his qualification in this event. Sarvesh also advanced to the semi-final bracket of Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking, putting two points on the board in that category! Fellow team member and team president Prateesh Vijayakumar advanced to the double-octa final round of LD Debate which earned him one point of his needed twelve point total. The team heads out to Pasadena High School next week as the larger squad gets ready to step out into the new competition season!
Pasadena High School - September 7, 2019
The Wolverine Debate Team had another successful weekend at Pasadena High School this Saturday. As they continue to earn more points and reach their goals of state qualification, Vice President Sarvesh Subramanian clocked in at 1st in Lincoln-Douglas debate, earning him 10 points which earned his state qualification in this event, as well as earning points in Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking by placing 1st! Keeping up the winning streak, the rest of the team followed with their own individual successes as Zahra Virani placed 3rd in Informative, Zeeshan Hassan placed 6th in Novice Extemporaneous Speaking, and Rishi Bengani placed 5th in Foreign Extemporaneous Speaking. Not to be left behind, Isaiah Hall reached impromptu semifinals, the team of Rishi Bengani & Nathan Lee broke to quarters in PF, and Sophie Nguyen, Sana Kulkarni, and Zahra all made it to DX semi-finals. The team is looking forward to more wins at the next tournament at Clear Falls High School.
Clear Falls High School - September 20-21, 2019
The weekend of September 20th found the Wolverines competing at Clear Falls High School. The novices had a great start, with Melanie Rubio, Annsantra Sijo, Zeeshan Hassan, and Molysa Hang advancing to semifinals in Novice Extemporaneous Speaking. The novices continued their streak with Yusuf Islam making it to quarter-finals in Novice LD Debate. They were followed by Isaiah Hall and Sebastian Velasquez advancing to semifinals in impromptu and Muhammad Zain ranking 4th overall in the same event. Not to be left behind, Zahra Virani clocked in at 2nd place in Informative, earning her 4 more state points, Yusra Ahsan placed 3rd place with 3 state points, and Zain achieved 1 point by ranking 6th. Lastly, Vice President Sarvesh Subramanian reached quarters in LD Debate and received 3rd place in Original Oratory.
Bellaire High School - October 11-12, 2019
The weekend of October 11th and 12th found the Wolverine Debate Team at Bellaire High School's annual meet where they proceeded to rack up state points and excel in their individual events. In Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Isaiah Hall earned 2 state qualification points by advancing to quarters and Michael French reached octa-finals. Moving on to Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking, team vice president Sarvesh Subramanian achieved 3rd place which not only earned him 4 state points but also allowed him to reach his second state qualification. He also reached semi-finals for Original Oratory. In Novice Extemporaneous speaking, Jyothi Manoj earned 6th place and Zeeshan Hassan advanced to semi-finals. Keeping up the streak, novices Anto Antony ranked 5th in Novice Impromptu, Molysa Hang advanced to semi-finals in the same event, and Santra Sijo was 1st in Novice Dramatic Interpretation! Informative speaker Muhammad Zain also reached semi-finals and team secretary Yusra Ahsan earned 3rd place in the same event, earning her 3 more state qualification points and bringing her up to 6 overall.
Stratford High School - October 18-19, 2019
It was another successful weekend at Stratford High School with team historian Zahra Virani earning 3 more state points in informative speaking, meaning she has 10 overall and only has 2 more to go! Following close behind, Yusra Ahsan made informative semifinals, Sarvesh Subramanian made 3rd in Original Oratory - bringing him up to 7 points - and he was 1st LD speaker. Last but definitely not least, Sofia Arriaga made semifinals in Domestic Extemporaneous speaking and Sumi Subramanian reached semifinals in Novice Extemporaneous.
Katy Taylor High School - November 15-16, 2019
At Katy Taylor HS this weekend, debate sophomore and team historian Zahra Virani inched one point closer to her state qualification in Informative Speaking by making it to Semi-finals, catapulting her to 11 points of her needed 12 for the season. Teammate Jyothi Manoj joined Zahra in semi-finals, picking up her first point of the season! Meanwhile, newcomer Sebastian Velazquez fought his way to the final round of Impromptu Speaking and placed 8th overall as well. Closing out the individual events portion of the meet, team vice president Sarvesh Subramanian advanced to the semi-finals bracket in both Oratory and Foreign Extemporaneous Speaking, picking up a total of four more points for his already impressive two-event state qual for the season. In debate events, team co-historian Alwin Varghese advanced to the double-octa final round of LD Debate earning him his first point!
Tompkins High School - December 6-7, 2019
It was another great weekend for the Wolverine Debate team at the November 6-7 Tompkins High School tournament. Starting with Informative Speaking, team historian Zahra Virani captured 2nd place, earning the team their second state qualification of the season! Following in her lead, team secretary Yusra Ahsan earned 3rd place, putting her at 9 state qualification points. Fellow member Jyothi Manoj placed 4th, earning two points, Ian Allen placed 5th, getting his name on the leader board with one point while newcomer Aqsa Babar followed closely behind with 6th place and one point.
Debaters and other speaking event competitors also brought home achievements, starting with Anto Antony who placed 3rd in Novice LD where he also was recognized as 4th speaker overall, and 6th place finalist in Impromptu Speaking. His champion counterpart, Sarvesh Subramanian placed 3rd in his division while also placing 1st as overall speaker. Additionally, Sarvesh took home the gold, 1st place, in Foreign Extemporaneous Speaking and a 5th place finish in Original Oratory.
One of the stand-out achievements of the weekend was Isaiah Hall who entered four events and managed to advance to beyond prelims in all of them; he placed 2nd place in Poetry, as a quarter-finalist in LD Debate, and as a semi-finalist in Impromptu Speaking and Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking.
Last, but certainly not least, returning team member from a year off was Kristyn Delgado who flexed her verbal muscle in Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking by placing 5th overall, earning four points toward her 12 point goal.
Because of all of their hard work and dedication, the team managed to walk away with a 3rd place overall finish! The team heads to Clear Springs next to add more qualifiers to their upcoming El Paso state meet!
Debaters and other speaking event competitors also brought home achievements, starting with Anto Antony who placed 3rd in Novice LD where he also was recognized as 4th speaker overall, and 6th place finalist in Impromptu Speaking. His champion counterpart, Sarvesh Subramanian placed 3rd in his division while also placing 1st as overall speaker. Additionally, Sarvesh took home the gold, 1st place, in Foreign Extemporaneous Speaking and a 5th place finish in Original Oratory.
One of the stand-out achievements of the weekend was Isaiah Hall who entered four events and managed to advance to beyond prelims in all of them; he placed 2nd place in Poetry, as a quarter-finalist in LD Debate, and as a semi-finalist in Impromptu Speaking and Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking.
Last, but certainly not least, returning team member from a year off was Kristyn Delgado who flexed her verbal muscle in Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking by placing 5th overall, earning four points toward her 12 point goal.
Because of all of their hard work and dedication, the team managed to walk away with a 3rd place overall finish! The team heads to Clear Springs next to add more qualifiers to their upcoming El Paso state meet!
Clear Springs High School - December 13-14, 2019
Brook Speech and Debate members returned from their last meet of the calendar year that was held at Clear Springs High School on December 13th and 14th. The team came back with one additional state qualification which was earned by officer and senior member Yusra Ahsan who placed third in Informative Speaking. Her fellow teammates, Sophie Nguyen and Aqsa Babar met her in finals and came away with 4th and 5th place finished respectively, adding to their current state totals.
In debate events, soon to be graduating seniors and the newly formed Public Forum Debate team of Prateesh Vijayakumar and Kent Pham won the meet when they placed first in their event and Prateesh even placed 1st overall for speakers in this event as well! This win gives their team six of a needed 12 points for their qualification for state. Fellow team member Isaiah Hall took home the 3rd place finish in LD Debate, inching four points closer to his state qualification as well.
Speaking events also saw their share of accolades with Rishi Bengani placing 6th in Impromptu Speaking while his novice counterpart Sebastian Velasquez placed 6th in Novice Impromptu. Additional recognition goes out to Ealana Nikolouzos and Nicholas Ng who both advanced to semi-finals in Novice Extemporaneous Speaking and Novice Impromptu Speaking.
In debate events, soon to be graduating seniors and the newly formed Public Forum Debate team of Prateesh Vijayakumar and Kent Pham won the meet when they placed first in their event and Prateesh even placed 1st overall for speakers in this event as well! This win gives their team six of a needed 12 points for their qualification for state. Fellow team member Isaiah Hall took home the 3rd place finish in LD Debate, inching four points closer to his state qualification as well.
Speaking events also saw their share of accolades with Rishi Bengani placing 6th in Impromptu Speaking while his novice counterpart Sebastian Velasquez placed 6th in Novice Impromptu. Additional recognition goes out to Ealana Nikolouzos and Nicholas Ng who both advanced to semi-finals in Novice Extemporaneous Speaking and Novice Impromptu Speaking.
Clear Lake/Dobie Swing - January 3-4, 2020
While most students were enjoying their full holiday break, Brook debaters were hard at work at a swing tournament at J Frank Dobie High School that was co-hosted by Clear Lake High School. At the end of the Dobie side of the swing, Sophie Nguyen placed fourth which earned her three state points toward her qualification in Information Speaking. In addition, the newly formed Worlds School Debate team fought their way to finals against St. John’s High School and came away with second which earned the team of Sarvesh Subramanian, Rishi Bengani, Alwin Varghese, Zahra Virani and Nathan Lee four points toward their goal.
On the opposite side of the swing – Clear Lake – Ian Allen came away with a fourth place finish in Informative, earning him three points while Sebastian Velasquez earned a sixth place finish in Novice Extemporaneous Speaking!
On the opposite side of the swing – Clear Lake – Ian Allen came away with a fourth place finish in Informative, earning him three points while Sebastian Velasquez earned a sixth place finish in Novice Extemporaneous Speaking!
Clear Creek High School - January 17-18, 2020
The Brook Debate Team continued their stockpiling of state points at Clear Creek High School’s annual meet hosted January 17th and 18th! The biggest win came when the squad’s Worlds School Debate team bested Tompkins High School in finals, winning on a 3-0 decision from their panel. This gave the team of Sarvesh Subramanian, Nathan Lee, Rishi Bengani, Alwin Varghese and Zahra Virani six points, leaving them at 10 total on the season. Needing only two more points, the team hopes to pick those up at Lamar this weekend, to guarantee their state qualification.
In addition to these points, teammates Aqsa Babar and Ian Allen placed 2nd and 3rd respectively in finals for Informative Speaking, picking up enough points to put them both at eight points for the year. They also hope to pick up at Lamar so they have a reserved seat on Southwest Airlines as the team heads for the state meet in El Paso in March!
In addition to these points, teammates Aqsa Babar and Ian Allen placed 2nd and 3rd respectively in finals for Informative Speaking, picking up enough points to put them both at eight points for the year. They also hope to pick up at Lamar so they have a reserved seat on Southwest Airlines as the team heads for the state meet in El Paso in March!
Houston Lamar High School - January 24-25, 2020
Brook Debaters added three more students to their flight to El Paso in March to attend the state meet with the following wins at Houston Lamar HS this weekend - the Worlds School Team of Sarvesh Subramanian, Zahra Virarni, Alwin Varghese, Rishi Bengani and Nathan Lee took first place! Sarvesh also placed 1st in Oratory, garnering his fourth qualification of the season. While Sarvesh and Zahra were already qualified in other events, their Worlds members now get to join them at State!
Other wins were realized by Muhammed Zain who placed 3rd in Informative Speaking, Sebastian Velasquez who placed 3rd in Impromptu Speaking and Santra Sijo who placed 6th in Dramatic Interp. Freshman Anto Antony also advanced to Octa-Finals in LD Debate!
Other wins were realized by Muhammed Zain who placed 3rd in Informative Speaking, Sebastian Velasquez who placed 3rd in Impromptu Speaking and Santra Sijo who placed 6th in Dramatic Interp. Freshman Anto Antony also advanced to Octa-Finals in LD Debate!
Texas City High School - January 31-February 1, 2020
At Texas City High School’s annual speech and debate tournament this past weekend, Brook debaters continued to fill seats on a Southwest flight bound for El Paso as they look forward to state! Seniors and PF Debate partners Prateesh Vijayakumar and Kent Pham qualified for state by taking 3rd place overall while freshman Aqsa Babar placed 2nd in Informative Speaking! Currently this means that nine debaters and speakers will represent Brook at state so far this year.
In addition, Ian Allen took 3rd place in Informative Speaking while Muhammad Zain took 6th, Santra Sijo took 4th in Dramatic Interpretation, while Sebastian Velasquez placed 4th in Impromptu Speaking. Third place speaking awards were also brought home by Jyothi Manoj and Prateesh Vijayakumar in Novice PF Debate and PF Debate respectively.
