Woodward Sweeps Pine Crest Round Robin, Invitational

The debate team’s regular season ended this past weekend in Fort Lauderdale as seniors Max Abramson and Tripp Haskins stamped a punctuation mark on what has been a historically successful season for Woodward Academy. The duo earned the championships at both the Pine Crest Round Robin and the Crestian Invitational, defeating several of the best teams in the country en route to a combined 31-4 ballot count over five days and 18 debates. Both championships were firsts in school history. The field at the by-invitation-only Pine Crest Round Robin included 15 of the best teams in the country. Teams were divided into two pods for the preliminary debates with two judges in each debate; the winner of each pod (based on total ballot count) then faced off in the finals. Max and Tripp finished as the top seed with a 13-1 record against teams from Niles West (IL), Glenbrook North (IL), Carrollton Sacred Heart (FL), North Broward Prep (FL), Pine Crest (FL), Montgomery Bell (TN), and Westminster (GA). In the final round, they defeated the top team from Montgomery Bell in a rematch of the finals of last month’s Barkley Forum. Tripp was the top speaker at the Round Robin and Max finished third.

Building on their momentum from the Round Robin win, Max and Tripp finished the preliminary rounds at the Crestian Invitational with a perfect 6-0 record including wins over Niles West, Glenbrook South (IL), Glenbrook North, Meadows (NV), and Pine Crest. Tripp earned eleventh speaker honors while Max finished fourteenth. They advanced to the elimination rounds as the tournament’s second seed and defeated Greenhill (TX), Meadows, and Glenbrook North to advance to the finals. Again facing off against the top team from Montgomery Bell, Woodward won a close debate to earn the championship and unite the Round Robin and invitational crowns.

Juniors Alanna Pearson and Arjun Srinivasan also enjoyed a successful weekend, finishing tied for ninth place. They racked up a 4-2 record in the preliminary rounds before bowing out in the octafinals to Westminster. Sophomores Mona Mahadevan and Malachi Robinson also finished with a strong 3-3 record, an impressive accomplishment for a young team at such a challenging tournament.

With Pine Crest in the books, Max and Tripp have finished the regular season with a perfect 40-0 record as a team in preliminary rounds at invitational tournaments — an Academy record that is unlikely to ever be broken. Overall, they finished the regular season with a 59-4 record at invitational tournaments. Excluding the final round of the Barkley Forum (which features a large panel of judges), they ended their regular season on a streak in which they won 49 of a possible 53 ballots. They have already cemented their place as one of the most successful Woodward debate teams of all-time.

The War Eagles will be back in action in early March at the State Tournament and again in early April at the National Championships.