The Tarheel Forensic League instituted a new year-long competition this year -- The Circle of Champions. At every tournament hosted by a North Carolina high school, students earn points based on their finishing position. With the regular season now complete the final standings have been determined and Cary Academy had two students named the champions of their respective events. Hannah Hubbard finished the season ranked first in Lincoln Douglas Debate, and Bill Peebles finished ranked first in Extemporaneous Speaking. Cary Academy was the only school in the state to win more than one category outright. Several other students finished ranked in the top ten in their respective events. In Lincoln Douglas Debate CA had 6 of the top 10 which was the highest number of ranked students from the same school in any one event. In addition to Hannah Hubbard ranking 1st, Alexis Williams was 5th, Carrie Schellenberger 6th, Jessie Liu was tied for 7th, Puj Adusumilli was 9th, and Nyal Patel 10th. Bill Peebles was joined in the Extemp rankings by Orlin Velev who was 7th. In Congressional Debate, Ted Waechter was 5th and Leighton Boiar 6th; and in Public Forum the team of Daisy Gray and Jonathan Nunez were 6th. With 11 different student placements in the top ten of their respective events CA was tied for the second most of any school in the state.

The Cary Academy Speech and Debate team completed its regular season as 27 students traveled to Fayetteville to compete in the B.G.T.F Invitational hosted by EE Smith High School. The following students placed in their respective events:
Hannah Hubbard- 3rd Place, Varsity LD
Jessica Liu- 4th Place, Varsity LD
Carrie Schellenberger- 5th Place, Varsity LD
Varun Kasula- 6th Place, Varsity LD
Colin Yeany- 4th Place, Novice LD
Sami Frankel & Jeffrey Kenna- 3rd Place, Varsity PF
Sindhoor Ambati & Ava Rosenbaum- 3rd Place, Novice PF
Savannah Lynn- 5th Place, Impromptu Speaking
Rachel Earnhardt- 6th Place, Original Oratory

40 members of the Cary Academy Speech and Debate team braved the winter weather and traveled to Fayetteville to compete in the first ever All-Star Invitational hosted by Gray's Creek High School. The tournament was accelerated due to the inclement weather, but all four rounds were still completed, and the team had a strong showing coming away with first place sweepstakes, its fourth such title of the year. 
We'd like to thank Randy Guard, Nancy Melamed, and Susan Peebles for judging!

The following individual placements contributed to the overall team victory:
Leighton Boiar- 3rd Place, Congressional Debate
Elisa Yazdani- 4th Place, Congressional Debate
Cohen Dworsky & Daisy Gray- 1st Place, Public Forum Debate
Sami Frankel & Jeffrey Kenna- 2nd Place, Public Forum Debate
Sindhoor Ambati & Ava Rosenbaum- 3rd Place, Public Forum Debate
Ben Davalos-Martinez & Neel Rao- 4th Place, Public Forum Debate
Daniel Kahn & Miles Lambert- 5th Place, Public Forum Debate
Kristin Andrejko & Abby Getz- 6th Place, Public Forum Debate
Varun Kasula- 3rd Place, Lincoln Douglas Debate
Laura Cabana- 4th Place, Lincoln Douglas Debate
Alex Melamed- 6th Place, Lincoln Douglas Debate
Bill Peebles- 1st Place, Extemporaneous Speaking
Alex Wang- 2nd Place, Extemporaneous Speaking & 6th Place, Impromptu Speaking
Martin Kendrick- 5th Place, Extemporaneous Speaking & 4th Place, Radio Speaking
Charlie Taylor- 6th Place, Extemporaneous Speaking
Archita Chandra- 3rd Place, Original Oratory
Lydia Field- 6th Place, Original Oratory

29 members of the Cary Academy Speech and Debate team traveled to Fayetteville on February 9th to compete in a tournament hosted by Seventy-First High School. The team had an outstanding showing placing second overall in sweepstakes. The effort was led by a strong performance in Extemporaneous Speaking where Keegan Hines was the champion and was joined in the top 6 by Bill Peebles (3rd), Ellie Buckner (4th), Arnav Goswami (5th), and Bharat Modi (6th). Archita Chandra was second in Original Oratory. In Lincoln Douglas Debate Hannah Hubbard was 2nd, and Nyal Patel 6th, and Daisy Gray and Casey Miles were 3rd in Public Forum Debate. In Congress Henry Bristol was 5th and the Best Presiding Officer, and Leighton Boiar was 6th.

The Tarheel East District national qualifying tournament for debate events was held at East Chapel Hill HS over the weekend of February 2nd and 3rd. Cary Academy had an excellent showing in Lincoln Douglas Debate with 3 students advancing to the second day of competition, no other school had more than one do so. Puj Adusumilli, Alexis Williams, and Patrick Lambert were all among the last 8 of 38 competitors. Patrick was eliminated in the round of 8 after losing on a 2-1 decision. Both Puj and Alexis advanced to debate in the qualifying round where each was victorious on unanimous 3-0 decisions. They will represent the Tarheel East District at the National Forensic League National Tournament in Birmingham, Alabama this June.