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. 

The Boys Rule at Hockaday

The Hockaday Tournament is one of the oldest TFA tournaments in the Dallas area.  It is also the most competitive non-TOC tournament on the Fall schedule.  This tournament is a good gauge (for better or worse) how well the JBS team stands up against the best teams in the area and Texas.

Ruben Garcia and Daniel Lozano demonstrated that they have the potential to be an NCX team to reckon with on the TFA circuit.  They garnered a 3-1 record to earn the 6th seed.  They beat a St. Mark's team to break and beat a Greenhill team to advance to the Quarter-Finals.  They finished in 5th Place. The JBS Law Magnet has not had an NCX team do this well at Hockaday since Eddie Camacho and Charlie Stevens were freshmen.

Haley Estrada and Tyffany Robles also broke in NCX as the 15th seed and dropped in Octos. Haley also won 16th Best Speaker.

Results for LD are unofficial as Hockaday has not posted them on the JOT site. Kelsey Annu-Essuman broke Octos and earned an additional two points towards qualification.  If the results hold up, she will be one point shy of qualifying.

Thanks go to Ivan Garcia for the photo of Ruben and Daniel with their Silver Platter awards.

JBS Law Magnet's Fabulous Fives at Newman Smith

The JBS Law Magnet debate team debuted its novice debaters at the Newman Smith Debate & Speech tournament this weekend.

All the novice debaters won at least one debate round and demonstrated a contagious enthusiasm throughout the long weekend.  Ruben Garcia and Daniel Lozano became the first novice debaters to break.  They broke to Quarter Finals, winning 5th Place and each winning the first trophies for the novice squad.

Kelsey Annu-Essuman continued to display that she is one of the top junior VLD debaters on the circuit.  She went undefeated in preliminary rounds and advanced to Quarters, finishing in 5th Place.  She earned an additional 2 TFA state points, upping her total to 5.  After just three TFA tournaments, she is half way to her goal of securing TFA State qualification.

Rolando Velasquez and Emilio Lozano once again started strong with a 2-0 record, but were unable to win either of their break rounds.

The complete squad, including all 8 NLD debaters will competing at Grand Prairie next Saturday.

Finally, we would like to thank Ms. Guerrero and Ms. Rojas for helping chaperone this weekend.