The team competed in the varsity divisions of Lincoln-Douglas and Public Forum debate against the best teams throughout Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee. After a weekend of competition, we had several students finishing with winning records and a freshman, Alan Munschy, made it to Quarterfinals of a national varsity tournament in Lincoln-Douglas debate, a Columbus first.

 

In the Lincoln-Douglas division, three novice students debated for the first time - Nicholas Gonzalez (9th), Lucas Hurley (10th), and Alan Munschy (9th) – and finished with big wins against top programs in the region. Having a breakthrough tournament, Alan Munschy, finished with a 3-2 record and was ranked the 7th seed going into elimination rounds. Though he stood his ground in the quarterfinals, Alan lost to Auburn in the elimination round. Lucas Hurley also finished with a 3-2 record and missed making it to elimination rounds by a couple of speaker points. The students were debating the Merits of Utilizing Standardized Tests for U.S. College Admissions.

 

In Public Forum, three teams represented Columbus. The team of Zakk Gilley (11th) and Matthew Monroy (11th) finished with a winning 3-2 record and narrowly missed making the octo-finals due to speaker points. In a notable act of leadership and representation of the Marist spirit, team president Albert Sanchez sacrificed his spot in Lincoln-Douglas Debate to partner up with Ryan Williams. The duo fought hard and pulled off big wins against Auburn and Westminster Christian (GA), but missed elimination rounds. Also, competing nationally for the first time was the team of Brandon Gustafson (10th) and Christopher Gil (11th).

 

The Debate Society next competes this weekend against college teams at the Miami-Dade College Voices Matter tournament on the Kendall Campus. Columbus will be the only high school team competing against students from the University of Miami, Broward College, Lynn University, University of Central Florida, and Miami-Dade College.