48 members of the Cary Academy Speech and Debate team traveled to Fairfax Virginia to compete in the Patriot Games Classic hosted by George Mason University. The team had an extremely successful weekend as 10 entries broke to the elimination rounds in the speech events, as well as 6 in the debate events. Those advancing included:
Emily Zhen-Semifinals, Extemporaneous Speaking
Lexie Davlia-Semifinals, Declamation
Loren Troan-Quarterfinals, Extemporaneous Speaking
JR Cobb-Quarterfinals, Informative Speaking
Julia Young-Quarterfinals, Original Oratory
Nica Kostenko-Quarterfinals, Original Oratory
Emma Tang-Quarterfinals, Declamation
Sophia Liu-Quarterfinals, Declamation
Katherine He-Quarterfinals, Declamation
Sydney Tai-Quarterfinals, Declamation
Will Aarons-Octafinals, Lincoln Douglas Debate
Casey Powell-Double Octafinals, Lincoln Douglas Debate
Jessica Zhong-Double Octafinals, Lincoln Douglas Debate
Aryan Nair & Aanya Sachdeva-Double Octafinals, Public Forum Debate
Adithi Sundaram & Elena Huang-Triple Octafinals, Public Forum Debate
Saajan Patel-Semifinals, Congressional Debate

17 members of the Cary Academy Speech and Debate team traveled to Philadelphia over the middle of the trimester break to compete in the Villiger Tournament hosted by Saint Joseph's University. It was a very successful weekend as the team finished 8th in overall sweepstakes out of 75 schools from 10 different states. The team's effort was led by Alex Lim who was crowned the champion of Dramatic Performance as well as reaching the quarterfinals in Declamation, as well as Becca Segal who placed 3rd in Extemporaneous Speaking. Also reaching the elimination rounds of the speech events was Arielle Curtis who was a quarterfinalist in Oral Interpretation. On the debate side Saajan Patel reached the final session of Student Congress placing 10th overall, and both Will Aarons and Emily Wang reached the octafinals of Lincoln Douglas Debate. In addition Will was the 2nd Place Speaker, and Emily was 8th place.

58 members of the Cary Academy Speech and Debate team made the short trip to Cary High School on Saturday November 9th to compete in the third DSDL tournament of the season. The team continued its streak of impressive performances this season winning overall sweepstakes for the sixth time this year, and for the tenth straight Dogwood tournament. The following student's individual placements contributed to the team's victory:
Ritvik Nalamothu-1st Place, Congressional Debate Chamber E
Jay Sagrolikar-3rd Place, Congressional Debate Chamber E
Sydney Tai-3rd Place, Declamation; 3rd Place, Program of Oral Interpretation
Katherine He-4th Place, Declamation
Noor Alam-6th Place, Declamation; 5th Place & Top Novice, Impromptu Speaking
Grace Jaeger-Sandruck-9th Place, Declamation
Kat Browning-11th Place, Declamation; 10th Place, Impromptu Speaking
Emma Tang-12th Place, Declamation
Jared Seidel & Chailyn Washington-Thompson-6th Place, Duo Interpretation
Becca Segal-1st Place, Extemporaneous Speaking; 1st Place, Impromptu Speaking 
Vicky Jin-5th Place, Extemporaneous Speaking; 7th Place, Impromptu Speaking
Loren Troan-6th Place, Extemporaneous Speaking
Nita Nalamothu-Top Novice, Extemporaneous Speaking
Margalit Mermelstein-2nd Place, Impromptu Speaking
Hannah Gordon-6th Place, Impromptu Speaking; 11th Place, Original Oratory
Kenneth Williams-8th Place, Impromptu Speaking
Rohen Girault-3rd Place & 1st Place Speaker, Novice LD
William Su & Price Taylor-1st Place, Novice PF
Nash Brown & Christian Herrera-8th Place, Novice PF
William Su-3rd Place Speaker, Novice PF
Price Taylor-5th Place Speaker, Novice PF
Arielle Curtis-6th Place & Top Novice, Oral Interpretaton
Mary Kate Englehardt-9th Place & Top Novice, Original Oratory
Nica Kostenko-6th Place, Informative Speaking
Casey Powell-3rd Place & 6th Place Speaker, Varsity LD
Will Aarons-2nd Place Speaker, Varsity LD

68 members of the Cary Academy Speech and Debate team traveled to Fayetteville on Saturday October 26th to compete in the second Dogwood League tournament of the year hosted by Cumberland Polytechnic High School on the campus of Fayetteville Technical Community College. The team continued its impressive early season performance winning sweepstakes for the fifth time this year, and the ninth Dogwood tournament in a row. The following students individual placements contributed to the teams overall victory:
Sophia Liu-2nd Place & Top Novice, Declamation; 7th Place, Impromptu Speaking
Sydney Tai-3rd Place, Declamation; 2nd Place, Program of Oral Interpretation
Emma Tang-4th Place, Declamation
Noor Alam-5th Place, Declamation. 10th Place, Impromptu Speaking
Katherine He-6th Place, Declamation
Saajan Patel-1st Place, Congressional Debate Chamber B
Jay Sagrolikar-2nd Place, Congressional Debate Chamber A
Ritvik Nalamothu-3rd Place, Congressional Debate Chamber C
Becca Segal-1st Place, Extemporaneous Speaking & 1st Place, Impromptu Speaking
Parker Courts-5th Place, Extemporaneous Speaking
Sonia Shah-4th Place, Impromptu Speaking
Kareena Shesadri-5th Place, Impromptu Speaking
Kat Browning -6th Place, Impromptu Speaking
Zan Hager-8th Place, Impromptu Speaking
Vicky Jin-9th Place, Impromptu Speaking
Bryan Fang-1st Place & 1st Place Speaker, Novice LD
Kate Sandrueter-2nd Place, Novice LD
Anya Abhayakumar-6th Place, Novice LD
Nash Brown & Christian Herrera-5th Place, Novice PF
Michael Singleton & Evan Wirth-7th Place, Novice PF
Kali Bate-5th Place, Oral Interpretation
Miles Lubas-2nd Place, Original Oratory
Georgia Moorhead & Han Zhang-2nd Place, Varsity PF
Brian Wei & Sarah Zhao-6th Place, Varsity PF
Georgia Moorhead-1st Place Speaker, Varsity PF
Han Zhang-4th Place Speaker, Varsity PF
Natasha Sachar-3rd Place & 3rd Place Speaker, Varsity LD
Jessica Zhong-4th Place & 4th Place Speaker, Varsity LD
Folu Ogundipe-6th Place, Varsity LD

On Saturday October 19th 24 members of the Cary Academy Speech and Debate team traveled across the triangle to compete in the Eagle Open hosted by William G Enloe High School. CA had a fantastic showing winning overall sweepstakes. The following students placements contributed to the teams overall victory:
Emma Tang- 1st Place, Declamation
Lexie Davila-2nd Place, Declamation & 2nd Place, Impromptu Speaking
Jordan Miller-3rd Place, Declamation
Owen Kadis-1st Place, Extemporaneous Speaking
Vicky Jin-2nd Place, Extemporaneous Speaking
Hannah Gordon-1st Place, Impromptu Speaking & Original Oratory
Julia Young-2nd Place, Impromptu Speaking
Arielle Curtis-1st Place, Oral Interpretation
Rohen Giralt-2nd Place, Novice Lincoln Douglas Debate
Kaeshev Alapati-3rd Place, Novice Lincoln Douglas Debate
Allen He & Neha Sharma-1st Place, Varsity Public Forum Debate
Aanya Sachdeva & Andrew Lake-2nd Place, Varsity Public Forum Debate
Aryan Nair & Brian Wei-3rd Place, Varsity Public Forum Debate

The first Dogwood league tournament of the year saw 69 members of the Cary Academy Speech and Debate team travel to Fayetteville on Saturday October 12th to compete against competitors from 19 other schools from eastern North Carolina. After an intense day of competition CA emerged as the overall sweepstakes champion, the 8th straight Dogwood tournament that Cary Academy has won.  The teams effort was led by an extremely impressive performance on the speech side with 17 of CA's entries advancing to the final round, as well as a strong showing in Lincoln Douglas Debate taking 4 of the top 7 spots in Varsity and winning both first place and first place speaker in Novice. The following student's individual placements contributed to the team's overall victory:
Alex Lim- 1st Place, Dramatic Performance; 4th Place, Declamation
Sophia Liu-1st Place & Top Novice, Impromptu Speaking
Kat Browning-2nd Place, Impromptu Speaking
Katherine He- 2nd Place, Declamation
Emily Zhen-3rd Place, Extemporaneous Speaking
Anisha Rustogi-4th Place, Extemporaneous Speaking
Sonia Shah-4th Place, Impromptu Speaking
Kali Bate-4th Place, Oral Interpretation
Bayla Sheshadri-4th Place, Original Oratory
Emma Tang-5th Place, Impromptu Speaking
Parker Courts-6th Place, Impromptu Speaking
Noor Alam-6th Place, Declamation; 9th Place, Impromptu Speaking
Chailyn Washington-Thompson & Jared Siedel-6th Place, Duo Interpretation
​Lexi Davlia-7th Place-Declamation
Kareen Sheshadri-8th Place, Impromptu Speaking
Elise Boyse-10th Place, Impromptu Speaking
Nitya Nalamothu-Top Novice, Extemporaneous Speaking
Arielle Curtis- Top Novice, Impromptu Speaking
Bryan Fang-1st Place and 2nd Place Speaker, Novice Lincoln Douglas Debate
Anya Abhayakumar-1st Place Speaker, Novice Lincoln Douglas Debate
Emily Wang-2nd Place  & 4th Place Speaker, Varsity Lincoln Douglas Debate
Jessica Zhong-3rd Place and 5th Place Speaker, Varsity Lincoln Douglas Debate
Will Aarons-3rd Place Speaker, Varsity Lincoln Douglas Debate
Casey Powell-5th Place & 6th Place Speaker, Varsity Lincoln Douglas Debate
Folu Ogundipe-7th Place, Varsity Lincoln Douglas Debate
Miles Ramee & Sanjana Jotwani-3rd Place, Varsity Public Forum Debate
Owen Kadis & Sarah Zhao-4th Place, Varsity Public Forum Debate
Andrew Lake-4th Place Speaker-Varsity Public Forum Debate
Eric Xing & Erin Singleton-5th Place, Varsity Public Forum Debate
 Han Zhang-5th Place Speaker, Varsity Public Forum Debate
Owen Kadis-6th Place Speaker, Varsity Public Forum Debate
Andrew Murgitroyd & Evan Chang-4th Place, Novice Public Forum Debate
Kyler Chen & Mark Cunningham-5th Place, Novice Public Forum Debate
Ritvik Nalamothu-3rd Place, Varsity Congressional Debate Chamber 1
Jay Sagrolikar-3rd Place, Varsity Congressional Debate Chamber 2

37 members of the Cary Academy Speech and Debate team traveled to Durham on Saturday October 5th to compete in the inaugural Duke Invitational hosted by the Duke University Speech team. CA had a fantastic showing winning sweepstakes after placing first out of a field of 39 schools representing 11 different states. The team's effort was led by a close out of Novice Lincoln Douglas Debate, and first place finishes in both Declamation and Humorous Interpretation. The following students individual placements contributed to the team's overall victory:
Alex Lim-1st Place, Humorous Interpretation
Sydney Tai-1st Place- Declamation; 2nd Place- Program of Oral Interpretation
Bryan Fang-1st Place and 1st Place Speaker, Novice Lincoln Douglas Debate
Kaeshev Alapati-2nd Place and 4th Speaker, Novice Lincoln Douglas Debate
Bayla Sheshadri-2nd Place, Original Oratory
Noor Alam-4th Place, Declamation; 6th Place-Impromptu Speaking
Christian Herrara and Nash Brown- 4th Place, Novice Public Forum Debate
Emily Zhen-5th Place, Extemporaneous Speaking
Olivia Zimmerman-5th Place, Program of Oral Interpretation
Claire Ferris-6th Place, Program of Oral Interpretation
Camryn Freidman-6th Place, Novice Congressional Debate
Michael Singleton & Evan Wirth-6th Place, Novice Public Forum
Casey Powell-7th Place & 3rd Place Speaker, Varsity Lincoln Douglas Debate
Sarah Zhao-7th Place Speaker, Varsity Public Forum Debate
Travis Kimball & Price Taylor-8th Place, Novice Public Forum Debate
Nash Brown-8th Place Speaker-Novice Public Forum Debate
William Su & Arjun Mandhare-9th Place-Novice Public Forum Debate
Emily Wang-12th Place, Varsity Lincoln Douglas Debate
Allie Chandler-16th Place, Varsity Lincoln Douglas Debate

78 members of the Cary Academy Speech and Debate team traveled to Southern Pines on Saturday September 28th to compete against students from 20 other schools from eastern North Carolina at the Pinecrest Open hosted by Pinecrest High School. CA had a fantastic showing winning sweepstakes at this season opening local tournament for the second straight year. CA's strong showing was highlighted by a close -out in one of the chambers of Varsity Congressional Debate, a sweep of both Varsity and Novice Lincoln-Douglas Debate, and top 2 finishers in five different speech events including a closeout of Program of Oral Interpretation. The following student's individual placements contributed to the team's overall victory:
Becca Segal- 1st Place, Impromptu Speaking; 2nd Place, Extemporaneous Speaking
Sydney Tai- 1st Place, Program of Oral Interpretation, 2nd Place, Declamation
Claire Ferris- 2nd Place, Program of Oral Interpretation
Bayla Sheshadri- 2nd Place, Original Oratory
Katherine He- 3rd Place, Declamation
Alex Lim- 3rd Place, Humorous Interpretation; 4th Place, Declamation
Miles Lubas-4th, Original Oratory
JR Cobb-4th Place, Informative Speaking
Vicky Jin- 4th Place, Extemporaneous Speaking
Owen Kadis-5th Place, Extemporaneous Speaking
Sophia Liu-5th Place, Declamation
Loren Troan-6th Place, Extemporaneous Speaking
Kareena Sheshadri-4th Place, Impromptu Speaking
Lexie Davila-5th Place, Impromptu Speaking
Grace Jaeger-Sandruck-5th, Program of Oral Interpretation
Emma Tang-6th Place, Impromptu Speaking
Kat Browning-1st Place, Novice Impromptu Speaking
Noor Alam- 2nd Place, Novice Impromptu Speaking
Sophia Liu- 4th, Novice Impromptu Speaking
Nitya Nalamothu- Outstanding Novice, Extemporaneous Speaking
Ritvik Nalamothu-1st Place, Varsity Congressional Debate Chamber A
Jay Sagrolikar-2nd Place, Varsity Congressional Debate Chamber B
Camryn Friedman-4th Place, Novice Congressional Debate Chamber B
Kavin Wood-5th Place, Varsity Congressional Debate Chamber B
Claire Kim- Best PO, Varsity Congressional Debate Chamber B
Han Zhang & Georgia Moorhead- 3rd Place, Varsity Public Forum Debate
Aryan Nair & Aanya Sachdeva- 7th Place, Varsity Public Forum Debate
Price Taylor & Travis Kimball- 5th Place, Novice Public Forum Debate
Nash Brown & Christian Herrera- 6th Place, Novice Public Forum Debate
Ann Lan & Lily Bastin- 7th Place, Novice Public Forum Debate
Michael Singleton & Evan Wirth- 8th Place, Novice Public Forum Debate
Price Taylor- 1st Place Speaker, Novice Public Forum Debate
Travis Kimball-3rd Place Speaker, Novice Public Forum Debate
Nash Brown-6th Place Speaker, Novice Public Forum Debate (TIE)
Christian Herrera-6th Place Speaker, Novice Public Forum Debate (TIE)
Will Aarons- 1st Place & 1st Place Speaker, Varsity Lincoln-Douglas Debate
Natasha Sachar-3rd Place & 3rd Place Speaker, Varsity Lincoln Douglas Debate
Jessica Zhong- 4th Place, Varsity Lincoln Douglas Debate
Folu Ogundipe- 5th Place, Varsity Lincoln Douglas Debate
Casey Powell-7th Place, Varsity Lincoln Douglas Debate
Emily Wang-6th Place Speaker, Varsity Lincoln Douglas Debate
Rohen Giralt- 1st Place, Novice Lincoln Douglas Debate
Bryan Fang- 2nd Place, Novice Lincoln Douglas Debate
Kate Sandrueter- 5th Place & 5th Place Speaker, Novice Lincoln Douglas Debate
Kaeshev Alpati- 6th Place, Novice Lincoln Douglas Debate
Anya Abhayakumar- 3rd Place Speaker, Novice Lincoln Douglas Debate

25 members of the Cary Academy Speech and Debate team, the most ever, traveled to New Haven, Connecticut over the weekend of September 13th thru 15th to complete in the season opening tournament hosted by Yale University. A record eight CA competitors reached the elimination rounds in their respective events across both the debate and speech categories. Bayla Sheshadri broke in Original Oratory where she advanced out of both her octafinal and quarterfinal rounds to reach the semifinals placing 14th out of 124 competitors. Alex Lim broke in Humorous Interpretation and advanced of his quarterfinal round to reach the semifinals placing 9th out of 60 competitors. In Congressional Debate Ritvik Nalamothu placed 4th in his preliminary chamber to advance to the semifinals placing him in the top 60 of 210 competitors. In Parliamentary Debate the team of Will Aarons and Colin Zhu were a perfect 5-0 in prelims and broke to the octafinal round placing 9th out of 81 teams. Will was the 4th place speaker and Colin the 9th place speaker as well. And finally in Junior Varsity Lincoln Douglas Debate CA had three competitors reach the elimination rounds, tied for the most of any school. Natasha Sachar was eliminated in the Double octafinal round after being paired against Allie Chandler. Allie advanced to the quarterfinal round before losing, and Casey Powell reached the semifinal round where he lost on a spilt 2-1 decision to the eventual tournament champion. CA was the only school to have more than one debater advance to the quarterfinals of JV LD. In addition Allie Chandler was the 7th place speaker.

10 members of the Cary Academy Speech and Debate team traveled to Dallas, Texas during the week of June 15th to the 22nd to compete in the National Speech and Debate Association's National Tournament, the world's largest academic competition. Cary Academy had one of its best showings ever at the National Tournament as six of CA's ten competitors reached the elimination rounds of their primary events. RJ Jain broke in Congressional Debate for the third straight year reaching the semifinals of Senate placing him in the top 70 of 193 competitors. Cade Spector reached the Octafinal round of United States Extemporaneous Speaking placing in the top 60 of 231 competitors, and Claudia Zimmerman reached the Octafinals of International Extemporaneous Speaking placing in the top 60 of 230 competitors. Will Aarons, Eric Xing, and Jessica Zhong all reached the Triple Octafinals of Worlds School Debate as part of the Tarheel East District's teams placing in the top 64 of 193 teams. Will Aarons was also the 19th Place Speaker in World Schools. After just missing out  on breaking in International Extemp Becca Segal entered the consolation event of Extemp Commentary and after seven rounds of competition advanced to the final round as one of the last 6 students remaining out of 221 entries. After an outstanding performance in the final round Becca finished in 3rd Place and was recognized on stage at the National Awards Assembly. This is the third straight year a Cary Academy student has been recognized on the Nationals stage, and the seventh time overall. Other students who competed at Nationals were Viraj Shah in Lincoln Douglas Debate, Grace Wissink in Program of Oral Interpretation, and Jay Sagrolikar in the House of Congressional Debate.