The Blake Forensics team had an extremely successful weekend of debating at the Iowa Caucus tournament at George Washington High School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Blake’s novice policy debaters fared well in one of the first tournaments of the year. The team of Emma Wexler ‘16 And Nate Nys ‘16 finished with a record of 2-4. Blake’s other team of Allen Wang ‘16 And Zahir Shaikh ‘16 Made it to the elimination rounds with a record of 4-2. Once facing elimination, the team of Wang and Shaikh defeated teams from Illinois, California and Iowa, winning the novice division finals.

In the public forum division, Blake’s novice teams of Natalie Norberg ’15 and Emily Moffa ‘16, and Abby Smith ’15 and Kelly Bentdalh ‘15 Had a chance to compete in the varsity division, finishing 2-4 and 3-3, respectively. Blake’s varsity team of Isabel Redleaf ’13 and Ben Storch ’14 earned the fifth seed in the elimination rounds with a record of 4-2. They were joined by the team of Fawaz Mohiuddin ’14 and David Steffen ’14, who finished 5-1 in qualifying rounds, giving them the second seed for elimination rounds. Redleaf and Storch lost in quarterfinals to New Trier, the ultimate tournament victors. Mohiuddin and Steffen went on to place second in the tournament, beating the team from Wayzata High School before eventually falling to an Illinois team from New Trier.

Debate coach Shane Stafford is excited about the future of the debaters, saying that the “novices got some great education about debate and are hungry for more.” Great job to all of the Blake debaters! For more information on the Iowa Caucus Tournament, please click the link: Blake Debate.