Echoes of “we need to de-criminalize marijuana” and “just because this pen can stab a person doesn’t mean we should make it illegal” rang through the JMU campus on Friday, December 3^rd, and Saturday, December 4^th.

Debate teams from all over the east coast descended on JMU last weekend for the annual JMU Invitational High School Debate Tournament. Of the three styles of debate, HHS placed in three: Student Congress, Public Forum, and Policy.

“I was proud, even a bit surprised. I was only surprised because during the tournament there were a lot of ups and downs, kids telling me they weren’t doing very well. It was also nice to have the coaches of Briar Woods and Broad Run impressed,” HHS debate coach Peter Norment said.

After school on Friday, debaters car-pooled to JMU, where they almost immediately began preliminary rounds. The next morning, debaters met at Harrison Hall off the JMU Quad at 7:15, and began debating at 8. Rounds typically lasted anywhere from 45 minutes to two hours, depending on the style of debate.

“The worst thing about the tournament was that we didn’t have any time between the rounds,” sophomore Madeline Culbreth said. Culbreth and her partner Samantha Heitsch were eliminated in the quarterfinals of the JV Policy competition. It was the first time either Culbreth or Heitsch attended the JMU Invitational.

The team of juniors Howard Zuo and Zakary Kraimeche placed first in the JV Policy competition, beating a team from Briar Woods to take the title. They debated well into the night, finishing their final round at nearly midnight. Throughout the weekend, they had debated nine times, with each debate lasting up to two hours.

“I think debate is the most unhealthy thing a person can do on the weekend because there are no breaks between rounds. But I guess that is part of the fun, but a bit of a stress too,” Norment said.

Another top finisher was junior Ryan Waligora, who placed second in the Lincoln-Douglas competition. After going 1-3 in the first four rounds, Waligora racked up enough speaker points to propel him into elimination rounds. Waligora won his semifinal round, but lost in the finals to 2-time state champion Elizabeth Hylton of Charlottesville High School. Before discovering that he was to move on to elimination rounds, Waligora was not optimistic about his chances.

“I thought I was done for, I definitely didn’t feel good about it,” Waligora said.

But after finding out he had made it to the semis, Waligora had mixed feelings.

“I was happy, but I was also a bit disappointed because that meant I would have to keep debating,” Waligora said.

HHS also did well in the Public Forum competition, sweeping the top two spots with the teams of junior Marshall Hyser and senior Keith Thomas, and junior Jack Burden and senior Tim Galicki, tying for first place. Both teams won their semifinal rounds, but instead of Norment choosing a winner, competition officials allowed the two teams to share the title.

Before the tournament, Thomas was feeling optimistic about his and Hysers chances.

“I [felt] pretty prepared. [I did] a lot of research and practicing,” Thomas said.

Going into the Invitational, Norment naturally expected the team to do well.

“I definitely expected L-D to do well, and I always expect the Policy teams to do well. I really did not expect Howard and Zak to do that well, though. Technically, Zak is a novice debater, so the fact that they won is pretty remarkable,” Norment said.

JMU is not the last big tournament of the year. The team is now looking forward to the Tournament of Champions, which is the final tournament held by the Shenandoah Valley Forensics League. Debaters had to qualify in one of the recent ShenVaFL tournaments in order to be eligible for the Tournament.

“Of course I’m looking forward to it. I’m hoping to win,” Norment said.

After the Tournament of Champions, the team will look forward to districts, then regionals, then states. With a strong showing at JMU now under the teams belt, the debaters will certainly go into these competitions with added confidence, and, after tasting the spoils of victory, a heightened desire to win.

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