Pine Crest Upper School Debate Teams Take Fall 2020 By Virtual Storm

The Pine Crest Upper School debate team has had a busy fall 2020 semester. While the team typically breaks up to travel to weekend tournaments, tournaments have gone virtual this semester.

This year, the team’s policy topic is Criminal Justice Reform. The full resolution states, "The United States federal government should enact substantial criminal justice reform in the area of policing, sentencing, or forensic science."  

The fall season kicked off with the New York City Invitational hosted by Bronx School of Science in New York.

In the junior varsity category, the sophomore team of Kristian Ivanov ’23 and Michael Greenberg ’23 were undefeated through their preliminary rounds and finished the tournament as champions. Michael was ranked as the second-best speaker in the division only to be bested by his partner, Kristian, who was ranked as the best speaker. 

In the varsity category, the senior team of Maya El-Shariff ’21 and Michelle Rubin ’21 made it to the Sweet Sixteen, losing on a split decision, which was a strong performance at this tournament. 

The following weekend, the team competed at The Meadows Invitational hosted by The Meadows School in Nevada.  

Maya and Michelle, representing the varsity team, made it to the Sweet Sixteen losing on a split decision to a strong team from the Greenhill School from Dallas, Texas. Individually, Michelle was ranked as the seventh best speaker, and Maya was ranked as the Top Speaker. This was Maya’s second Top Speaker award this season.

Maya and Michelle continued, competing in The University of Michigan Tournament. They again made it to the Sweet Sixteen losing to a strong team from Montgomery Bell Academy. However, they received their first bid to the prestigious Tournament of Champions; they will need two in order to qualify. In the junior varsity category, Michael Greenberg ’23 and Mahyoub Yatak ’23 took home the championship trophy. Michael was also the third ranked speaker out of approximately 100 competitors.

Most recently, the team competed in the Glenbrooks Tournament Hosted by Glenbrook North and Glenbrook South in Glenview Illinois.

In junior varsity, Kristian and Stefan Awaida ’23 were the second seed and lost in the semifinals. Michael and Mahyoub teamed up again and were the top seed in the tournament and finished in first place. This is the second tournament in a row the pair has finished undefeated in first place.  
 
All of the junior varsity students also received speaker awards. Mahyoub was second, Kristian was third, Michael was eleventh, and Stefan was thirteenth.

In the varsity category, Maya and Michelle were the 17th seed losing in the Double-Octo finals on a close two-to-one decision. Maya was the 15th speaker, and Michelle was the 22nd speaker. They competed against more than 300 peers to finish in the top 25.  
 
This marks the first tournament where Pine Crest has had six students win speaker awards at a major national tournament. 
 
Congratulations to all, and Go Panthers!