First Weekend – Sept. 18-20 – The Greenhill School, Dallas, TX

In Lincoln Douglas debate, Mike S. '07 advanced through the preliminary rounds with 5-1 record and was the 12th speaker, which made him the 7th seed in the tournament. He advanced to the double octofinals and then competed in the LD Round Robin - a prestigious tournament where invitations are only extended to the top 16 LDers in the nation. Also in LD, Adrienne K. '09 had a very good beginning to her year, going 3-3 at her first major national tournament, which bodes well for the future. In policy, both teams went 4-2 and advanced to the double octofinals. Korbin C. '07 and Jessie L. '07 lost to a team from Bishop Guertin in NH, and Bobby K. '08 and Jeremy S. '08 lost to eventual quarterfinalists The Woodlands.

Second Weekend – Sept. 23-24 – The Meadows School, Las Vegas, NV

The Meadows School hosted its Fourth Annual tournament, known as the Kirk Knutsen Classic. We hosted over 100 competitors and coaches from 6 different states, including Utah, Arizona, California, Nevada, Florida and Hawaii. This year our tournament was designated a Tournament of Champions qualifier at the finals level – this means that if a team reaches the finals in policy debate, it has one of the qualifying bids for the TOC at the end of the year. This designation is only given out to the best tournaments in the country, and so is an honor for us to work for and achieve. We do not compete in tournaments that we host, which is the normal practice for TOC level tournaments. In Policy Debate, the team of Kathy Bowen and Jordan Molliver from Gulliver Prep in Miami, Florida, defeated the team of Elliot Carr-Lee and Dayton Thorpe from Highland High School in Salt Lake City, Utah. In Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Andrew Shoung from Alhambra High School in California came in first place, repeating his performance from last year.

Third Weekend – Sept. 29-Oct. 1 – Valley High School, Des Moines, Iowa, and Cal State, Long Beach, California

Long Beach attracts some of the best competition in the southwest, including teams from the Bay Area and Arizona, and is a qualifier for the Tournament of Champions at the finals level, like The Meadows School Tournament the weekend before. Two novices making their forensics debut were Chris P. '10 and Justin G. '10. Both of them had outstanding tournaments. Justin went 4-2 in Novice Lincoln-Douglas, missing qualification for the elimination rounds by speaker points. Chris debated in Policy Debate with Madilynn C. '09, in her first tournament for The Meadows and her first Policy Debate rounds. She spearheaded her team's affirmative efforts with the innovative immigration affirmative that she rewrote. Chris and Madilynn were 5-1 and advanced to the octofinals as the fifth seed before dropping to La Costa Canyon from California. In Varsity Policy, Bobby K. '08 and Jeremy S. '08 advanced through the prelims with a 5-1 record. Jeremy and Bobby won their octofinals and quarterfinals rounds. This set up a rematch against the College Prep School, the only team we lost to in the preliminary rounds. It was a close debate, but ultimately CPS won the debate and went on to win the tournament. With two bid rounds in two tournaments, Bobby and Jeremy have staked their names as one of the best junior teams in the country.

Valley High School is one of the Best Lincoln-Douglas tournaments in the country, and has a TOC bid at the quarterfinals level. Mike S. '07 was 5-1 in the preliminary rounds, and reached the semifinals before losing to Lake Highland Prep from Florida. Mike earned his first bid to the TOC this year, and has solidified his position as one of the best LDers in the country.

Fourth Weekend – Oct. 6-7 – Green Valley High School, Las Vegas, NV

This past weekend, The Meadows competed at the first local tournament, Green Valley High School, and came away with a solid performance. In Varsity Lincoln-Douglas, Mike S. '07 came in first place, defeating Palo Verde High School in the finals. Adrienne K. '09 tied for third place based on her preliminary round performance. In Novice Policy Debate, Ken K. '10 and Lawrence B. '10 stormed through the preliminary rounds to reach the finals, losing to Green Valley to receive second place. In Junior Varsity Debate, Madilynn C. '09 and Ben M. '09 took first place, defeating Coronado in the finals. In Varsity Policy Debate, Jeremy S. '08 and Korbin C. '07 – freshly back from their New Trier Odyssey – managed to make it to the semifinals before losing to host Green Valley. At local tournaments, most schools compete in their own tournaments. Also making their forensics debuts at the tournament were Tammie P. '09, Chris P. '10 (local debut), Nick B. '10, Nicole G. '10, Justin G. '10 (local debut), Shana K. '10, and Vincent K. '10. All of our novices debuted well, competing hard and doing well – congratulations to them.

We have tournaments upcoming in October in Texas, Michigan, Utah, and Las Vegas.