Niles West Reaches Top 16 at Homewood Flossmoor Tournament

Niles West Debate sent 26 debaters to the 45^th annual Viking Classic Invitational, a competitive tournament held at Homewood Flossmoor High School on February 24 through 26. Teams from Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa and Illinois participated.

In the Novice division, James McLellan and Lizzie Prete were 5-1 in the preliminary rounds and were the fifth seed entering the elimination rounds. They made it into the round of 16, but ended up losing to the 12^th seed from Iowa City. Janat Ahmed and Nick Charles, 4-2 in the preliminary rounds, were seeded 14^th going into the elimination rounds. They lost to the third seed from Dowling Catholic High School in the round of 16. Gershom Chan was named the 8^th speaker, out of 102 debaters. Other debaters competing in the Novice division:  Julia Sarata, Sahar Jiwani, Michelle Sproat, Alwin Alex, Tahir Meeks, Morgan Gstalter and Joe Bakes.

In the Varsity division, Theo Noparstak and Jonass Placitis had a 4-2 record. Though the 17^th seed, they missed advancing to the elimination rounds by 0.1 speaker points. Other debaters competing in the Varsity division:  Emma Lazar, Vinay Patel, Nathan Anderson, Kris Trivedi, Breana Brill, Miranda Kang, Lia Isono, Jessie Amgalanjargal, Sana Khan, Alyssa Guzman, Nashiha Alam and Ari Hoffman.

Niles West Debate is preparing for the JV/Novice Policy Debate State Championship that will be held March 9 through 10 at Dundee Crown High School, Carpentersville, IL.  Also coming up for Niles West Debate in March, the IHSA Varsity State Championships, JV/Novice Nationals and the Midwest Championships.

Eric Oddo is the Head Debate Coach for Niles West. Assistant coaches are Matt Fahrenbacher, Val McIntosh, Jeff Buntin and Kevin Bancroft.