Niles West Debate Wins Midwestern Championship

Niles West Debate competed at the 2012 Great Midwestern Novice and JV Championships hosted by Iowa City West High School on March 30 through April 1. The Niles West team of Nathan Anderson and Miranda Kang advanced to the final round and defeated Glenbrook North for the championship. Anderson and Kang finished their first year on the Niles West debate team as one of the most successful novice teams in the country. Their top finishes include the Quarterfinals at the Glenbrooks tournament, Quarterfinals at Novice Nationals and they were crowned State and Midwest Champions.

Forty-nine teams competed in the novice division. Niles West sent six teams. Miranda Kang and Nathan Anderson were the top seed entering elimination rounds. They only lost one ballot the entire tournament and won the championship. Alwin Alex and Tahir Meeks were 5-1 in the preliminary rounds and the sixth seed entering elimination rounds, making it to the Quarterfinals. Walter Lindwall and Julia Sarata were 4-2 in the preliminary rounds and were the 15^th seed entering elimination rounds, losing in the Octafinals. Michelle Sproat and Nick Charles were 19^th place and Janat Ahmed and Gershom Chan were 24^th place. Out of 98 debaters, Kang was third speaker, Anderson was seventh speaker, Chan was 18^th speaker, Meeks was 19^th speaker and James McLellan was 24^th speaker.

Thirty-five teams competed in the junior varsity division. Emma Lazar and Vinay Patel went 4-2 in the preliminary rounds were the sixth seed entering elimination rounds. They made it to the semifinals of the tournament. Theo Noparstak and Jonass Placitis went 4-2 in the preliminary rounds and were the fifth seed entering elimination rounds. They lost in the Quarterfinals. Ari Hoffman and Sana Khan went 4-2 but failed to advance to the elimination rounds. Out of 70 debaters, Noparstak was fourth speaker, Placitis was fifth speaker and Lazar was ninth speaker. Breana Brill, Kris Trivedi, Jessie Amgalanjargal, Lia Isono, Alyssa Guzman and Nashiha Alam all competed well.

The Head Debate Coach is Eric Oddo. Assistant coaches are Kevin Bancroft, Matt Fahrenbacher, Val McIntosh and Kim Pressling.