Ethan Zhao ’26

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This fall Strake Jesuit debate had another stellar semester! With the support of the school and coaches, competitors were able to attend 29 tournaments on local, state, and national levels. Although the school mainly competes in only two events, Public Forum (PF) and Lincoln Douglas (LD), we were still able to make it to finals at 19 tournaments including the University of Texas, Yale, Blake, Glenbrooks, University of Michigan, Apple Valley, and more. On the state level, Strake Jesuit debaters accumulated 432 TFA (Texas Forensic Association) points, setting us up for a record-breaking 49 state qualifications this year. On the national level, competitors travelled to 10 different cities, including Dallas, New York, and Chicago, accumulating 40 prestigious TOC (Tournament of Champions) bids.

As the season opened in late August, 44 Jesuit students kicked off the semester at Foster High School’s back-to-school swing. There, we finaled in both LD and PF and gained top speaker awards. Soon after, varsity PF debaters competed at the National Speech and Debate Season Opener at the University of Kentucky, where Daniel Guo ‘25/Jason Zhao ‘25 made it to semifinals and the team secured the first three TOC bids of the season. The following weekend, 49 competitors drove up to Dallas to compete at Grapevine High school, the first major team travel tournament of the year. There, the team earned another two bids and numerous speaking awards. Rounding out September, debaters competed at Yale and Mid-America, both prestigious national-level tournaments. At Yale, Daniel Guo ‘25/Jason Zhao ‘25 championed in PF while at Mid-America, Samuel Rubinstein ‘26 took home second place and Michael Meng ‘26 made it into Quarterfinals. In mid-October, the team flew up to the Big Apple to compete at the New York Invitational. There, Kelvin Meng ‘26 made it to finals in Lincoln Douglas. Mac Stratton ‘26/Jason Zhao ‘25 made it to Octofinals in Public Forum while winning both first and second speaker awards in the event. From August to October, Strake Jesuit attended a total of 14 local and state level competitions, such as Jordan or Greenhill, and often won first place across both events.

At the beginning of the second quarter, 45 competitors travelled to Gainesville, Florida for the second major travel tournament of the year. Together, 30 students advanced into elimination rounds across novice and varsity PF and LD. Notably, Cruz Castillo ‘26/Ethan Wan ‘26 advanced into Quarterfinals in VPF, Joshua Seagraves ‘28/Rohan Sharma ‘27 in Finals of NPF, and Ayaan Yakoob ‘28 in Semis of NLD. The following weekend, Strake Jesuit competed at two other national circuit competitions. At the University of Michigan tournament, Rehan Merchant ‘25/Campbell Haire ‘25 championed! Similarly, at the Apple Valley tournament in Minnesota, Michael Meng ‘26 made it to finals in LD and Justin Wen ‘25 made it to Semis. In the middle of November, the team competed online in the Katy Taylor tournament where Julian Carlile ‘26/Roger Li ‘26 and Rehan Merchant ‘25/Campbell Haire ‘25 co-championed PF and Samuel Rubinstein ‘26 took home first place in LD! During Thanksgiving Break, varsity debaters travelled  to Chicago to compete at the Glenbrooks Tournament, where Mac Stratton ‘26/Jason Zhao ‘25 won first place in PF and Justin Wen ‘25 won second place in LD. In December, debaters drove to Austin to compete at the University of Texas, where Justin Wen ‘25 championed in LD out of a pool of 169 competitors while Daniel Guo ‘25/Jason Zhao ‘25 advanced to Quarters of PF. Rounding out the semester, Jason Zhao ‘25/Daniel Guo ‘25 co-championed with Mac Stratton ‘26/Sumith Murthy ‘27 at the Blake School Invitational. Overall, the team also attended 8 Texas local/state competitions where debaters earned even more TFA points, preparing them for the state tournament in March. 

As all these results demonstrate, the team had a triumphant first semester. Competitors have built a strong foundation for the second half of the year, when they will compete at the Texas Forensic Association State competition in March, the national Tournament of Champions in April, and the National Speech and Debate Tournament in June.