Ellen Noble Wins the NCFL
Bronx Science Wins Policy Debate Championship;
Trinity Prep Takes Public Forum Title
The original post was accidentally deleted. So, let’s re-comment!
APPLETON, Wis. — The Grand National Tournament of the National Catholic Forensic League has come to a close. The NCFL hosts thousands of competitors over the course of two days each year on Memorial Day Weekend.
This year’s final round of Lincoln-Douglas debate featured a Marylander and a Texan: Walt Whitman High School’s Ellen Noble and Bellaire High School’s Muthu Alagappan. In the round, junior Ellen defeated senior Muthu to claim the tournament title. Congratulations to both competitors!
Ellen is coached by Anjan Choudhury, Tanya Choudhury, and Elyse Lyons; Muthu is coached by Jay Stubbs.
In policy debate, the Bronx High School of Science’s Kristina Gunnarsdottir and Francisco Bencosme faced off against La Salle College High School’s T.J. McCarrick and John Sperger for the NCFL national title. On a 4-1 decision, Bronx Science defeated La Salle to win the tournament.
Kristina and Francisco are coached by Sarah M. Heaton, David Marks, and Jon Cruz; T.J. and John are coached by Raymond T. Shay.
(Aaron Zisook contributed to this report.)
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Posted from: 72.229.4.198
May 26th, 2008 19:24
My apologies to all for the accidental deletion of this post. I was doing a bit of site maintenance and made a boo-boo. Oy. And it was at around 150 comments, too!
So, again:
CONGRATULATIONS ELLEN! CONGRATULATIONS MUTHU! Vassar Round Robin represent! You two are so deserving of this final round appearance, and I’m very happy for both of you.
Congratulations, Teams Walt Whitman, Bellaire, and Regis for dominating semis.
HUGE CONGRATULATIONS TO KRISTINA AND FRANCISCO! It has been awesome watching both of you grow as debaters these past four years, and I am so happy you can say that you won your last round of high school debate. (The debate community at large should watch out for Francisco, who will be representing Wake Forest fiercely for the next four years.)
Finally, congratulations to Melissa Parker on a well-earned semifinal round appearance in OI. Awesome way to end your junior year!
Posted from: 72.80.222.90
May 26th, 2008 19:48
WHOA!
MAJOR CONGRATS KRISTINA & FRANCISCO!!
Congrats to M. Parker too!!!
Posted from: 74.68.137.169
May 26th, 2008 19:49
Congrats guys, this is so awesome!
Posted from: 24.215.199.212
May 26th, 2008 19:50
CONGRATS FRANCISCO AND KRISTINA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! you guys are AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)
CONGRATS TO MELISSA AS WELL!!!
AWESOME JOB BRONX!!!!!!
<3
Posted from: 162.83.218.146
May 26th, 2008 19:50
Congratulations Francisco and Kristina!
Posted from: 24.242.139.162
May 26th, 2008 19:51
kara ramsey in quartersss congrats congrats
agler/o’connell/ray lab utnif ‘07 for the win
Posted from: 69.253.230.13
May 26th, 2008 19:53
huge congrats to ellen, obviously, for rocking. also to muthu for debating a great final round. congrats to matt thomas, perry, steph, and many others on breaking (sorry, i’ve forgotten who all broke!)
congrats to contillo on making it to octas and having a fantastic end to a great debate career.
Posted from: 216.80.145.126
May 26th, 2008 20:14
MUTHU MUTHU MUTHU MUTHUMUTHU MUTHUMUTHU MUTHUMUTHU MUTHUMUTHU MUTHUMUTHU MUTHUMUTHU MUTHUMUTHU MUTHUMUTHU MUTHUMUTHU MUTHUMUTHU MUTHUMUTHU MUTHUMUTHU MUTHUMUTHU MUTHUMUTHU MUTHUMUTHU MUTHUMUTHU MUTHUMUTHU MUTHUMUTHU MUTHU
and the crowd goes wild!
Posted from: 141.156.232.4
May 26th, 2008 20:22
major congrats to Ellen on the win! Also, congratulations to Perry for a really well-deserved run to semis, and for not actually losing any outrounds. Finally, Ben, Rachel and Ben in PF and Drew in congress on breaking and doing well.
Posted from: 24.158.8.254
May 26th, 2008 20:24
it would be fantastic if anyone has forensics results would share them. I left before the award ceremony.
Posted from: 66.56.33.211
May 26th, 2008 20:25
Congrats to Ellen, Muthu, and the Bronx Policy Squad
Posted from: 66.108.54.50
May 26th, 2008 20:33
congrats to ellen, matt, and mike!
Posted from: 71.191.133.112
May 26th, 2008 20:44
Congrats Ellen! You’re awesome.
Also congrats to Perry, for not losing an outround, and to Ben for breaking.
Also, Jane you are insanely amazing to have made it to semis of extemp with no voice!
Congrats to Ben and Rachel for quarters in PF!
Posted from: 69.151.159.57
May 26th, 2008 21:04
Congrats Ellen on a great win. Congrats also to Muthu on a great fiale to his carer. You both really deserve it.
Posted from: 71.163.39.67
May 26th, 2008 21:31
Major congrats to Perry for being absolutely amazing and not losing a single outround. Also, congrats to Ben on breaking, Jane for dominating extemp, Drew in Congress, and Ben and Rachel on PF quarters. Also congrats to Muthu on an awesome final round. Thanks to Anjan, Tanya, and Elyse for being amazing – you guys are the best. Fun tournament.
Posted from: 24.90.20.221
May 26th, 2008 22:01
kristina and fran, what a great way to end senior year. congrats on the title
Posted from: 24.45.11.198
May 26th, 2008 23:19
Huge congrats Ellen!!!
Posted from: 72.144.7.193
May 26th, 2008 23:58
congrats sharla! you rock :)
Posted from: 71.76.188.53
May 27th, 2008 03:44
YAY Franny and Kritina!
Posted from: 98.169.51.84
May 27th, 2008 06:10
Huge congratulations to Ellen, and a special salute to Perry, Ben, Caroline, and all the Whitman folks who make our local circuit so tough. Y’all were awesome. We are really glad that you are 10 minutes away, but in a different state and diocese.;-)
Posted from: 65.125.82.250
May 27th, 2008 06:58
Ellen!!!
What an amazing accomplishment. I am so proud of you!
Posted from: 204.137.64.112
May 27th, 2008 07:48
I debated Muthu round 1, and I was extremely impressed. He is not only a fantastic debater but also a rad and down-to-earth dude. Congrats, man.
Also, +1 to Mike Contillo for knowing that a 1.9 GPA is NOT average (especially in light of grade inflation). XD
Posted from: 24.164.191.184
May 27th, 2008 09:57
Congrats Ellen!
Also, props to steph, yan, mike, georgia, ben, kevin, and everyone else who did well.
Posted from: 137.52.208.185
May 27th, 2008 10:55
Congrats to Whitman and Anjan for his second title. I also wanted to say that I was very impressed by Charles McClung when I judged him for the first time ever.
Posted from: 24.250.96.109
May 27th, 2008 15:35
just wondering, does anyone know what the actual ballot score was for the final round? (i.e., was it 5-0 or 4-1 or what?).
either way, congrats to ellen and everyone else who broke!
Posted from: 24.186.38.46
May 27th, 2008 15:57
it was a 3-2 decision.
Posted from: 74.73.188.174
May 27th, 2008 16:47
congratulations francisco and kristina on ending your high school debate career with a national championship!!!
Posted from: 71.191.70.211
May 27th, 2008 17:47
Congratulations Ellen!! :)
Also big congrats to Perry, for not losing a single outround, and to Jane for being awesome in extemp despite her losing her voice, to Ben for outrounds, to Drew on Congress, and to Ben and Rachel for PF quarters!
Posted from: 24.215.162.120
May 27th, 2008 18:25
congrats ellen and the whitman team!
yay fran and mossy!
Posted from: 69.248.7.220
May 27th, 2008 19:07
Huge ups ellen, you deserve it. Rep next year.
Posted from: 74.67.55.150
May 27th, 2008 20:19
I repeat the gist of what I said earlier:
Anyone able to consistently win on this topic is pretty baller.
Posted from: 72.68.76.55
May 27th, 2008 20:52
i’m really interested in what arguments people decided to use for this topic. would any of the participants at this tournament mind sharing cases or research?
Posted from: 69.115.223.185
May 27th, 2008 21:04
congrats ellen! you really deserved this win. Also congrats to steph for quarters
Posted from: 67.175.50.93
May 27th, 2008 21:10
Congrats to both teams in finals. It was a 4-1 decision (I was one of the judges, and I suspect it was the 1 female who was sat). In essence, there was not a single offensive argument by the affirmative on the net benefit to the EU CP. the CP fiated US and EU action, but the aff did not make an argument that multiple agent fiat bad (which would have been an easy voting issue for me, especially considering the solvency differential was answered because the CP mandated that the US give technology to the EU).
Nevertheless, it was a good round, and I congratulate both teams and their respective schools.
Posted from: 208.118.184.3
May 28th, 2008 07:38
Re: Hassin (32)
If I am remembering correctly, the NC that Ellen ran in finals was fairly straightforward. The value was institutional legitimacy (arguing that secondary schools are social institutions that must prioritize in accordance with their purpose), the VC was maximizing entry opportunities (arguing that the purpose of secondary schools was to be a launching pad into general society).
The first contention was that prioritizing athletics maximizes entry opportunities by giving students of a school access to the larger scholarship pool that exists for college student-athletes and therefore maximizes access to that entry opportunity.
The second contention was that athletics produces a civil ethic of community inside schools that instills the values of participation and contribution in the school population, which all can take part of whether athlete, fan, alumni, teacher, parent, etc. This ethic was more likely to translate into productive and contributing members of society at large than that of the detached fine arts.
I don’t want to misrepresent Muthu’s case since I wasn’t in the round itself, but I understand that it dealt with moral development and how the fine arts produces ethical appreciation such as compassion. I’ll also add that Muthu was incredibly impressive when I saw him earlier in the tournament, and from what I heard, just as impressive in Finals.
Posted from: 98.198.39.99
May 28th, 2008 14:45
Re: Hassin (32)
My cases were fairly straightforward, and after having debated the topic for a few rounds, the resolution wasn’t as limited as I expected. I actually found it more substantively interesting than a few other topics.
In finals, my affirmative (as Anjan said) talked about how the fine arts stimulate moral growth and development through self-reflection, increased humbleness, compassion, and a few other things. It also argued that athletics stifled moral development through steroids use, bribery, and exclusion of individuals. Finally, it explained that moral development was critical at a young age because moral values become fixed and immovable with time. The impact to moral development was increased societal progress through solving social problems.
The more interesting of my negative cases, and the one I would have run had I negated in the final round, said that valuing something implies a view of positive worth toward that object. For example, you can’t value dishonesty. Thus, the thesis of the NC was that neither the fine arts nor athletics should be valued because they both cause a tradeoff with academic focus. The case said that India and China were taking our place in the global market and our only way to catch up to them was to decrease athletics/fine arts and focus more on academics. This is true because schools in India/China and almost every other developed nation spend 2x the time we do on academics and its paying off for them.
Congratulations to Ellen for an awesome job in finals! Good luck next year.
Posted from: 165.138.230.3
May 29th, 2008 09:32
Hey, I know there was a judge on there who offered to e-mail me an RFD from octafinals against Muthu. If you could that would be awesome (closest round of my life). My e-mail is chsLDTG@yahoo.com .
Posted from: 165.138.230.3
May 29th, 2008 14:46
I believe the judge was Matt Smith.
Posted from: 24.186.38.46
May 29th, 2008 17:18
If he didn’t get back to you, he judged for my team, and we discussed the rd. The short version of the story was that you won the standards debate, but he voted off of the NC extensions that spoke about the increase in hippocampus activity, which apparently cleanly linked to your standard. He voted there because it outweighed on a level of extension strength (i.e., it was cleanly extended).
Posted from: 75.80.139.173
May 30th, 2008 23:33
ELLEN IS A SUPERSTAR!!!
Posted from: 71.50.57.132
May 31st, 2008 13:44
OK, COntillo, thanks for letting me know. Did he say if it was a close round? And if you could ask, I want to know how the judges looked past the idea that intelectual virtue always comes first because the other virtues don’t matter if not applied intellegently.
Posted from: 68.117.54.190
June 1st, 2008 14:05
http://www.ncfl.org/gnt/gntpast/gntpast.html
Results are posted.
Posted from: 68.49.208.107
June 19th, 2008 21:28
CONGRATS ELLEN!
major congrats to Perry for semis, Ben and Rachel in PF and Drew in congress for all breaking!
Posted from: 129.120.4.1
July 4th, 2008 14:36
Ellen is dominant. The end.
Posted from: 69.155.130.42
July 4th, 2008 16:33
I second that.