A message from Justin Sweitzer, Middle School Debate Coach …
NOV 4: Deep in the Far West Valley along the spine of the Santa Monica Mountains, the Oakwood Middle School Debate team arrived at Colina Middle School for its season-opening tournament. With a competitive group that included 11 7th graders and some seasoned 8th graders, the team had the right combination of freshness and grit. And every last atom of effort would be needed, for never is there an easy tournament in the Golden State Debate League (GSDL).
As the day wore on and the Valley sun arced, murmurs swept through the team that something remarkable was afoot. One round the team went 7-1; in another they went 8-0. Could this be true? Could they keep it up? Could we win at Colina (something that hadn’t been done in two years)?
Following the results of Round 5, several Oakwood teams came running and fairly screaming toward our home base room. When one sees this happening, it only means one thing: they went undefeated. Not only did three teams go undefeated, but all eight teams finished with a winning record.
All in all, Oakwood had achieved what has only been done five times previously in the past nine years: a tournament sweep.
1st Place Overall Wins: 32
1st Place Tournament Percentage: 80%
1st Place Speaker: Ily
1st Place Three-Person team: Emma/Kiki/Arun
