CHS students Megan Adamczewski, Nicole Thompson, Jeff Tucker, Christian Parroco and Warren Fasone all qualified for the National tournament to be held this year in Kansas City. This was the first of three qualifying tournaments at the district level. Three debate events were held this weekend at Concord High School; the top two in each event qualify for the National tournament.

Policy debate saw Chesterton gain both of the possible bids to nationals. The team of Jeff Tucker and Nicole Thompson and the team of Christian Parroco and Warren Fasone claimed the honor by finishing as the top two teams. Tucker, Thompson, and Parroco are all seniors, while Fasone is the only junior in the group. This is the second time that Tucker has qualified in this event. Sophomores Jon Vincent and Justin Reed are the 2nd alternates, while Kalina Smith and Victoria Simms came in 8th.

Lincoln Douglas debate saw Megan Adamczewski defend her district title in the event. Adamczewski is a senior who last season qualified in both Lincoln Douglas and Extemporaneous speaking. Brandon Moore is the 2nd alternate for the national tournament; while Michael Leopold came in 5th and Alec Turner came in 6th.

Chesterton had the 1st alternate in the last event. The team of Luke Morgan and Syed Shah would represent Chesterton if any of the qualifiers are unable to go. Jordan Hoover and Tom Biel (6th), Mary Kovach and Katie Tymorek (7th), and Kira Geairn and Nikita Chawla also represented Chesterton at the tournament.

The Policy and Public Forum teams are coached by Chris Lowery and the Lincoln-Douglas team is coached by Scott Woodhouse. The team was supported by former graduates; Scott Coffer, Alex Stecuich, Alec Donelson, and Ankur Chawla. Families members that came to judge were Toya Garcia, Jodi Morgan, Stephanie Tice, Brian Moore, and Susan Swaner. Assistant coach Ben Blohm also represented Chesterton.

The national qualifiers will join Tyler Fabbri in Kansas City, who has already qualified due to his final round performance at nationals last season. The next qualifying tournament will be in three weeks with the event of Congressional debate.

This weekend the team will travel to Ben Davis to attempt to win its third debate title in a row. Public Forum, Policy, Lincoln-Douglas, and the event of Congressional debate will be held to determine the overall winner.

Posted 2/4/2010