Harvard-Westlake hosted 320 debaters from 10 different states for a Varsity Lincoln-Douglas Debate division Octafinals qualifier to the Tournament of Champions.
On the first two days of the tournament, 12 of the best debaters in the country competed in the debateLA Challenge.
The debateLA portion of the tournament is a time for the top-debaters to experiment a bit in their augmentation in a Round Robin tournament, Bietz said. Typically, students debate in pods but in this format, they were able to challenge anyone in the field.
In hosting a tournament, the debate program strived to foster openness, transparency and cordial competition, Bietz said.
There were a number of notable performances from Harvard-Westlake debaters, including Tessa Augsberger ’22 who won the novice tournament and Spencer Paul ’19 who made it to the finals of the debateLA Challenge.