JBS Law Debaters Gust Thru Guyer Field

The JBS Law Magnet debate team grabbed two top finishes at the Guyer TFA qualifier this weekend.

Ivan Garcia and Rolando Velasquez knocked off the top seed in Quarters and defeated Colleyville-Heritage in the Semi's on 3-0 decision before finally splitting a 2-1 decision against Greenhill in the Finals.  Team GV finished 2nd and earned 6 TFA State points.

Kelsey Annu-Essuman broke to Quarters in VLD and won the Top Speaker Award in the division. Kelsey also earned an additional 2 TFA points, bringing her total to 5 for the year.

The novice LD'rs also competed in their first tournament and did so in the varsity division. Congratulations to Jose Garcia, Maria Herrera and Kimberly Pesina for competing for the first time.  On a special note, Maria won one of her varsity rounds!

Next week, the team competes at Plano West.

UIL Spring Meet Results

UIL Spring Meet Results for the JBS Law Magnet in alphabetical order of the event.  1st-3rd Place winners received a medal and advance to compete in Regionals at Baylor University.  4th-5th Place alternates also get to travel to Waco as possible substitutes.

Computer Applications - 4th Place, Margarita Sanchez

Current Issues & Events - 8th Place, Reuben Howard

Headline Writing - 1st Place, Rolando Velasquez

Informative Speaking - 6th Place, Reuben Howard

Lincoln Douglas Debate - 2nd Place, Katia Ramirez

Poetry Interpretation - 1st Place, Lucero Pina
                                   4th Place, Quetzabel Benavides

Prose Interpretation - 3rd Place, Kelsey Annu-Essuman
                                  5th Place, Glyneisha Johnson

Ready Writing - 1st Place, Rolando Velasquez

3 Top 20 Finishes @ TFA State

The JBS Law Magnet debate team had its most successful showing at TFA State with three Top 20 performances.  Ivan Garcia and Rolando Velasquz finished in 17th place in CX Debate.  Ivan Garcia (who has struggled with his speaker points all year) finished as the 19th Best Speaker in CX.  Kelsey was the 20th Best Speaker  in LD.  Since TFA State is so large, they recognize the top 20 Speakers.

In a year, in which JBS was supposed to rebuilding, it got is first CX team to break at TFA state.  Scott Deatherage used to say that "when won of us wins, we all win," that debate is more of a team effort than just the people debating in the room.  That was obvious this weekend as Charlie Stephens and Zavier Wingham came up to help be part of the research/strategy team, instead of enjoying their first weekend of Spring Break. Below is  a great picture of one of our "war room" sessions before leaving for the tournament.

Now we get ready for UIL Spring Meet and then the NDCA Championships in Scranton, PA.

Garcia-Velasquez Clear @ TFA State!

After digging themselves into an 0-2 hole, Ivan Garcia and Rolando Velasquez won three consecutive rounds to become the first Law Magnet debaters to clear at TFA state. The team is seeded #23 and will face Highland Park in the Double Octo Finals Saturday morning at 8AM.

Garcia-Velasquez Make NDCA Champs

We received word late today that Ivan Garcia and Rolando Velasquez have qualified for the National Debate Coaches' Association Championships.

Rolando Velasquez Finishes in Top 10

Rolando Velasquez finished as 10th Place Best Speaker this weekend.  That is a great accomplishment at a TOC tournament.  Most TOC tournaments recognized the Top 20 speakers in each event.

Katia Takes on Entire Grapevine NLD Squad

Katia Ramirez dominated the NLD field throughout the preliminary rounds, defeating four Grapevine debaters in route to a 5-0 record. Katia defeated another Grapevine debater in the Quarter Finals, setting up yet another debate against Grapevine. Having had five previous opportunities to hear her arguments, the Grapevine debater prevailed and Katia finished in 3rd Place. According to Mr. Gonzalez, he could not recall a single time in which a debater or team was required to debate one squad so many times and questioned the tab room's management of the tournament.  On a bright note, Katia finished the season with three TFA points, the most ever accumulated by a freshman JBS LD debater.

The varsity debaters were in the hunt for a TOC bid.  Ivan Garcia and Rolando Velasquez finished in 9th Place and missed the bid round by .5 speaker points. Rodolfo Velasquez and David Webb once again finished with a winning 3-2 record, but it was not enough to break.

The JBS Law Magnet Debate Team closed out the TFA regular debate season at the Colleyville TOC Winter Classic. Garcia-Velasquez and Kelsey Annu-Essuman will be competing at TFA state March 10-12.

Jasper Marks Great Day for Velasquez Brothers

The Velasquez brothers - Rodolfo and Rolando - both leaped into contention at the Jasper Debate tournament. Rodolfo and his partner David Webb finished in 5th Place and earned their first two TFA points. Rolando and Ivan Garcia continue to maintain momentum towards an NDCA invitation by finishing 3rd.

PESH: 2 Top 10 Finishes in VCX

The JBS Law Magnet Debate Team had two VCX teams finish in the top ten at the Plano East Debate Tournament.  

Colton Donica and Lucero Pina returned to the debate scene after a long hiatus to earn two more points towards TFA state. They now have 6 of the 10 required to qualify.

Continuing their hot streak, Ivan Garcia and Rolando Velasquez also finished in the out rounds with two additional TFA points. They have already qualified for TFA State and are now building a portfolio of top finishes to earn an invitation to the National Debate Coaches' Association Championships in April.

Garcia-Velasquez Qualify to TFA State

Ivan Garcia and Rolando Velasquez came within one round of giving the JBS Law Magnet back-to-back titles at Coppell. Garcia-Velasquez did finish in 3rd Place, earning four TFA points and have now qualified to TFA State. The team fought through eliminations rounds to an undefeated record of 4-0. They defeated Jesuit in the power matched round four and eliminated Benton in Quarters. The team dropped to St. Marks in Semis.

Kelsey Annu-Essuman continues to build a strong portfolio to qualify for the NDCA Championships. She finished 3rd in VLD and has now earned 19 TFA points, nearly double the points required to qualify for state.

The novices also went home with some hardware.  Ruben Garcia and Andre Lozano broke to Quarters in NCX and finished in 5th Place.  This marks the third time this year they have won trophies. Ana Giron broke in NLD for the first time. She defeated a Colleyville debater in Octos to advance to Quarters.  She finished in 5th. 

VLD'rs Crest at Creekview

The JBS Law Magnet debate team had three VLD debaters break to Octo-Finals at Creekview. Glyneisha Johnson, Katia Ramirez and David Webb all finished the preliminary rounds undefeated.  This marks the first time this year with three VLD debaters in out rounds.  Additionally, it marks Katia's first break as a varsity debater.  This is significant since she is only a freshman.

Joe Behm earned the 4th Place Best Speaker in VCX, while Ivan Garcia and Rolando Velasquez finished as the 10th Seed, but failed to break on speaker points.

This ends the debate season for the Fall Semester and for 2010.  The team will next debate at Coppell High School on January 7-8, 2011.  

Garcia & Velasquez Win 2nd Place in VCX

Ivan Garcia and Rolando Velasquez beat Berkner and Grapevine on their way to claiming 2nd Place in Varsity CX at South Garland  High School. GV earned 6 TFA qualifying points for their performance.

Kelsey Annu-Essuman led the VLD squad with another Top 10 performance. She finished in 5th Placed and stocked up on two more TFA points, taking her to 15 total. Katia Ramirez (Freshman) debated in her first varsity tournament and held her own by winning rounds.

Alex Delgado became the latest NLD to break.  He finished in 9th place. Zaida Rosas came close to breaking, only missing by one speaker point.

Next week is an all varsity tournament at Creekview High School.

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!

Kelsey Hits Single at Plano West

While the Texas Rangers where on their way to winning their first World Series game, Kelsey Annu-Essuman rang up another point towards TFA qualification. She did it by breaking to Octo's at Plano West and finishing 10th. She has now accumulated 7 of the 10 points necessary to qualify and has continued her streak of breaking at every local TFA tournament in which she has competed.

Selena Yanez came .5 speaker points away from breaking for the first time as a Novice LD debater.  Rolando Velasquez and Ivan Garcia also missed breaking by speaks.

Congrats also go to Gabby and Alex for winning rounds at their first tournament.

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.

Heard Through the Grapevine: Kelsey Breaks at TOC Qualifier & Wins 4th Best Speaker

Kelsey Annu Essuman became the first junior debater to ever break at a TOC tournament and the first JBS debater to win a top speaker award at a TOC tournament.  

Kelsey had a solid 4-1 prelim performance which garnered her the 6th seed in the tournament. Her Double Octo's appearance also earned her an additional TFA point.

The CX squad helped make this the most successful Law Magnet weekend at Grapevine in ten years.  All three policy teams debated in break rounds. Rolando Velasquez and Emilio Lozano finished with a 3-2 record and earned the 24th spot.  Rolando also placed 38th best speaker.  Colton Donica and Lucero Pina also finished 3-2.   Normally, a 3-2 record is enough to clear at Grapevine, but this year even a 4-1 team did not break since the tournament decided to only break to Octo's

The full squad next debates at Newman Smith where the novices will debate for the first time.