JCU Hosts 10th Annual High School Pre-District Qualifier
On October 21st & 22nd, JCU was proud to host its 10th Annual High School PDQ. The tournament is the first tournament of the year at which Ohio high school debate teams can earn their trips to the state championship. This year's tournament was a blast, with 28 teams from 12 schools competing, including an unusually large number of first time debaters. It was wonderful to see the future of Ohio high school debate get its start at John Carroll University.
This year's tournament includeded teams from Cathedral Prep (Erie, PA), Centerville, Chagrin Falls, Hathaway Brown, Hoover, Jackson, Louisville, Perry, Shaker Heights, St. Ignatius, University School, and Villa Angela - Saint Joseph. Although we were thrilled to have all of the schools participate, we were particularly honored to have Hathaway Brown join us since it was their very first tournament as a program. Way to go to them and their first Director of Debate, Jason Habig! |
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JCU was pleased to welcome a gaggle of first time debaters. All of the students pictured above began their debate careers at this year's JCU PDQ. Welcome to the world of debate. We hope you love it.
As always, the debaters argued, advocated, listened, thought, and challenged each other throughout the tournament. Although there was quite a range, including all of these new debaters as well as some of the best teams in Ohio and Pennsylvania, many of the debates were quite competitive.
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For you old school debate types -- those women are flowing on laptops! |
But, that doesn't mean the accordion files of prepared briefs are obsolote (yet)! |
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Good cross-examination is still at the heart of debate. I wish we had more of it. |
Of course, you are still ALLOWED to flow by hand. |
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And the debates go on! |
And on. And on. And on.... |
Elimination day brings a whole new set of issues. Two final preliminary rounds, then the awards ceremony to recognize the top ten speakers, and then finally, to the elimination debates. And the awards went to:
Top Ten Speakers |
Teams Qualifying for Elimination Rounds |
| 1. Reynolds (Jackson) | Cathedral Prep (Wittmann & Hayes) |
| 2. Herrick (Centerville) | Centerville (Cronin & Herrick) * |
| 3. Movens (St. Ignatius) | Chagrin Falls (Ewing & Fargo) * |
| 4. Wittmann (Cathedral Prep) | Hoover (Bonner & Romine) * |
| 5. Elwell (St. Ignatius) | Jackson (Shaheen & Reynolds) * |
| 6. Bonner (Hoover) | Perry (Miller & Fete) * |
| 7. Neuguebaur (Villa Angela - St. Joe's) | St. Ignatius (Movens & Elwell) * |
| 8. Sweeney (Villa Angela - St. Joe's) | Villa Angela - St. Joe's (Sweeney & Neuguebaur)* |
| 9. Miller (Perry) | |
| 10. Shaheen (Jackson) | *qualifed to the State Championship Tournament |
And then on to the quarterfinals. For the first time ever, 8 different schools were represented in the quarterfinals. For those who love competition, this is wonderful news. For those who administer the tournament, the clear message is. . . "no close out this year."
| Quarterfinals | Semifinals |
| #1 St. Ignatius d. #8 Chagrin Falls (3-0) | #1 St. Ignatius d. #5 Cathedral Prep (3-0) |
| #2 Jackson d. #7 Perry (3-0) | #3 Centerville d. # 2 Jackson (2-1) |
| #3 Centerville d. #6 Hoover (3-0) | Finals |
| #5 Cathedral Prep d. #4 VASJ (3-0) | #3 Centerville d. #1 St. Ignatius (2-1) |
Congratulations to all!
See you next year!