Speech and Debate Team Wins 15th Straight District Championship
The Valley Forge National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA) District Tournament will take place at La Salle March 25 & 26.
JohnsonR@LSCHS.ORG
The Speech & Debate Team picked up on its quick start to the year qualifying 19 students to the Pennsylvania High School Speech League Finals hosted by Bloomsburg University, 8 students to the National Catholic Forensics League Grand National Tournament in Louisville, KY, and 1 student to the Tournament of Champions hosted by the University of Kentucky.
In qualifying 19 students to the State Championship, the team won its 15th consecutive District 11 Championship on February 25th at Saint Joe's Prep. Ben Fedgechin '17, Bill Oxenford '17, Brian Mischler '17, Patrick Kelly '18, Jack Martin '18, John Santoro '18, Martin Csongradi '18, Zach Quinn '18, Aidan Young '18, Desmond Young '18, Jack Reckner '18, Ian Mattson '19, JV Fluehr '19, Jake Goodwin '19, Matt Poole '19, Peter Taylor '19, Patrick Calhoun '20, Andrew Talone '20, and J.C. Magee '20 will represent the Explorers at Bloomsburg University, March 17-18.
On March 4th, the Philadelphia Catholic Forensics League (made up of 26 local Catholic, Private, and Public schools) held its city championships and national qualifiers at William Tennent High School. To qualify to Nationals, a student needed to place in the top 6 spots in their event.
Representing La Salle over Memorial Day Weekend in Louisville will be Ben Fedgechin '17, Bill Oxenford '17, Jack Martin '18, Jack Reckner '18, Aidan Young '18, John Santoro '18, JV Fluehr '19, and Ian Mattson '19. The Policy Debate team of Martin and Mattson will be crowned City Champions at the league banquet in May. Also being recognized at the banquet as alternates to Nationals are Patrick Kelly '18, Martin Csongradi '18, and Desmond Young '18.
Junior Patrick Kelly qualified to the Tournament of Champions (TOC) hosted by the University of Kentucky. In order the qualify, students need to earn "bids" by placing highly at prestigious invitational throughout the season. Patrick finished in the semi-finals of the 42nd Annual University of Pennsylvania Invitational in February, earning his invitation to the TOC.
The team will turn its attention to hosting the Valley Forge National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA) District Tournament. The Valley Forge District consists of the entire eastern 1/3 of the state. The top 2 finishers in each event will qualify to represent the District at NSDA Nationals in Birmingham, AL in June. The District Tournament will take place at La Salle March 25 & 26.