Harrison High School Debate Team Wins 4th Tournament in A Row

The Harrison High School Debate Team had an extremely successful November, capturing its last four consecutive tournaments.  Of the twelve tournaments that the Debate Team has under their collective belt, they have won first place in four of the tournaments and secured second place in six of the tournaments.

Senior Danny DeBois continues to showcase Harrison High School on the Debate circuit by winning both the Apple Valley National Championship in Minnesota in early November and The Glenbrooks National Championship in Chicago just before the Thanksgiving break.  Danny is the first debater in the country to win both of these prestigious tournaments since 2005.

The Debate Team continues to gain in popularity at Harrison as freshman and sophomores perform well in the novice class.  At the Vassar Tournament in mid November, fourteen debaters competed in the novice class among a field of 68 Lincoln-Douglas debaters from across the region.  Freshman Sammi O’Reilly was named the tournament champion with an undefeated record.  Also with undefeated records, freshman Raffi Piliero received 3rd place and sophomore Amr El-Azizi finished in seventh place.  At the end of the tournament, 12 of the 14 novices had winning records and 10 received awards.

At the Hendrick Hudson regional tournament, Harrison had both varsity and novice debaters in competition.   Amr El-Azizi was declared the tournament winner with a perfect 6-0 record.  Freshman Matt Zinman received 5th place and three freshman placed in the top 20 (Raffi Piliero – 16th place, Jack Wilson -18th place, and Sammi O’Reilly – 20th place).

In the varsity division at Hen Hud, the elimination rounds ran late and the tournament will be concluded in January.  As of now, Danny DeBois is one of the four debaters remaining.  Depending on the results of his semifinal, he will either finish in 1st or 3rd place.  Sophomores Elyssa Alfieri and Kathryn Kenny placed in the top 32.

The next tournament for the debate team will be at Princeton University later in December.