Chesterton High School Debaters won the 2008 Indiana Debate Tournament with a score of 73, even though debater Erika Mihalek’s true score was never posted and she did not get the chance to compete in the final round.

“At the very least,” CHS would have had two more points, debate coach Jim Cavallo said today, due to Mihalek’s qualifying in the semifinals. If she’d placed in the top eight or higher in the finals, the score would have been even higher.

The Indiana High School Forensic Association posted the official results of the 2008 Indiana State Debate Tournament, leaving Mihalek out. The tabulation room mistake was discovered later.

“Upon auditing the scores for the tournament, I noticed that the scores were inadvertently entered incorrectly,” Cavallo said.

Mihalek was then left out of the final round competition.

Fortunately, that score does not directly affect her chance to go on to Nationals.

The tournament director has apologized for the mistake.

Mihalek has taken it very well, Cavallo said, and is looking forward to this weekend’s competition. Mihalek gets a chance this weekend to compete for Nationals at the Columbia City District Qualifying Tourney.

Posted 3/14/2008