VLD Squad Charges Flower Mound

After a two week period in which the LD squad had failed to have a single debater break into the out rounds, the VLD squad charged Flower Mound with a vengeance. Three VLD debaters broke and earned TFA points, matching a record recently set at Creekview.

Kelsey Annu-Essuman may have solidified her NDCA invitation this weekend by finishing 3rd in VLD. She leads the team with 25 TFA points.

Quetzabel Benavides keeps scratching out points towards TFA qualification. She now has a total of five points with two tournaments remaining.

Katia Ramirez added another TFA point to her stellar first year of debating. If she earns two more points, it will be the most ever by a first year LD debater. She needs a total of five to match the all time freshman mark set by Eddie Camacho and Charlie Stephens in their first year.

Kelsey Gets TFA Qualified While Entire JBS Law LD Squad Shines

Kelsey Annu-Essuman qualified to TFA State this weekend, by finishing in 3rd Place in Varsity LD Debate at the Williams High School tournaments.  Kelsey was also the 4th Best Speaker in VLD.  

Quetzabel Benavides also broke to the out rounds in VLD.  She finished in 5th Place and earned two more TFA points bringing her total to three.

Katia Ramirez continues to shine in Novice LD.  She finished in 3rd Place and won 2nd Place Best Speaker.  That is her second speaker award in two weeks.

Selena Yanez broke in NLD for the first time and finished in 9th Place.

The remainder of the LD squad had a productive weekend as Glyneisha Johnson, Yastril Nanez and Amahirany Villa were in 2-1 break rounds.

The LD Squad continues to show great progress.  The team may still have at least two more debaters qualify for TFA state. Additionally,  some of the NLD debaters have demonstrated that they will be ready to debate varsity in the Spring.  

Finally, the team would like to thank Ms. Guerrero for spotting Mr. G while he drove to the airport to pick up his wife.

The next tournament will be hosted by South Garland.

Kat Attacks Mean Green

Katia Ramirez kept the JBS Law Magnet TFA break streak alive by breaking in NLD. She advanced to the quarter-finals and finished 5th Place.  She is the first NLD debater to break and win a trophy.  See her photo below.

Quetzabel Benavides and Kelsey Annu-Essuman earned 8th and 9th Place Best Speaker awards in Varsity LD.

Several of the "Barefoot Debaters" earned 3-2 records, narrowly missing the elimination rounds on speaker points. These included Haley Estrada and Tyffany Robles in NCX, Ivan Garcia and Rolando Velasquez in VCX, and Quetzabel and Kelsey in VLD.

The LD'rs also made significant strides by winning several rounds against Hockaday debaters.  Next week The Hockaday Classic!

JBS Debaters Gopher The Points

The Judge Barefoot Debaters had several members earn TFA points at the Grand Prairie tournament this weekend.

Colton Donica and Lucero Pina had a break out tournament.  They finished the prelims undefeated and as the number one seed.  They advanced to semi finals, finished in 3rd Place and Colton won 1st Place Best Speaker.  As a result DP earned 4 TFA points.

Also earning their first two TFA points of the season in VCX were Emilio Lozano and Rolando Velasquez who broke to Quarters and finished in 5th Place.  Mike Garcia and Reuben Howard finished in 10th Place with a 3-1 record.

Kelsey Annu-Essuman continued her streak of breaking at every TFA tournament this year.  She broke to Octos and earned an additional TFA state point.  This brings her total to six.  Queztabel Benavides also broke to Octos in VLD and earned her first TFA point of the season.

Haley Estrada and Tyffany Robles, debating in only their second tournament, finished in 2nd Place in Novice CX on a narrow 2-1 split decision.  Several of the Novice LD debaters finished with winning records this weekend.

This was a very successful weekend and it would not have been possible without the support of the parents who chaperoned this weekend.  In particular, we would like to recognize and thank Ms. Adams (Joe's mom), Ms. Howard (Reuben's mom) and Ms. Velasquez (the Twins' mom) for volunteering to help this weekend.