Speech and Debate Hawks Take First and Second Place at State Tournament
Congratulations to Abhi Chundru ‘23 and the team of Mehul Lakhanpal ‘23 and Julien Benchek ‘23 on being named STATE CHAMPIONS at the Ohio Speech and Debate Association State Championship held March 2 - 4 at Austintown Schools. Abhi won in Congressional Debate – House, and Mehul and Julien won in Public Forum.
Samuel Berlin ‘24 was the state runner-up in Congressional Debate – House; this marked the only time that one school has had both first and second place in Congress. The team of Nikhil Subhas ‘23 and Sasha Turner ‘2323 was the state runner-up in Policy Debate.
The Hawks were named the state runner-up in overall team sweepstakes, edged out by a mere 12.37 points by Solon, as indicated in the final tournament scores below:
1st Solon - 735.01 pts
2nd Hawken - 722.64 pts
3rd Perry - 602.09 pts
4th Mason 362.57 pts
5th Canfield 293.31 pts
6th Jackson 281.84 pts
Other Hawken students who were honored at the Awards Ceremony include:
The team of Maia Tritt ‘25 and Axel Neely ‘23 and the team of Delicia Liao ‘25 and Jack Kampine ‘25: Semi-finalists (top 4) in Policy Debate. (Hawken had three out of the top four Policy Debate teams!)
Samantha Manoloff ‘23: 6th place in Dramatic Interpretation
The team of Parker O'Keefe ‘23 and Tim Toliver ‘23 and the team of Angela Shang ‘23 and Henry Gallagher ‘23: Quarter-finalists (top 8) in Public Forum Debate. (Hawken had three out of the top eight Public Forum teams!)
Students who received awards earlier in the day on Saturday include:
The team of John Joyce ‘25 and Brooke Gemechu ‘26: Octa-finalists (top 16) in Public Forum.
Sam Bowen ’23 (MSH) and Ashton Spradlin ‘24: Octa-finalists (top 16) in Lincoln Douglas Debate.
Breck DuPaul ‘25 - Finalist (top 16) in Congressional Debate - House.
Other students who advanced to elimination rounds:
Carlo Polisena ‘24 - Quarter-finalist (top 24) in Original Oratory
Swati Balaji ‘23 - Quarter-finalist (top 24) in Dramatic Interpretation
Serin Arikan - Quarter-finalist (top 24) in Informative Speaking
Sam Kang, Jasmine Shone, and Chloe Leng - Quarter-finalists (top 24) in International Extemporaneous Speaking
Divij Sasidhar - Quarter-finalist (top 24) in United States Extemporaneous Speaking
Kevin Jin ‘24 - Double-Octafinalist (top 26) in Lincoln Douglas Debate
Lukas Tomsich ‘23 - Semi-finalist (top 48) in Congressional Debate - House
Pranay Gupta ‘24 and Nicole Rashidi ‘26 - Semi-finalists (top 48) in Congressional Debate - Senate
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Birchwood School of Hawken, 4400 West 140th Street, Cleveland, OH 44135
Upper School, PO Box 8002 (12465 County Line Rd), Gates Mills, OH 44040
Mastery School of Hawken, 11025 Magnolia Dr, Cleveland, OH 44106
Gries Center, 10823 Magnolia Dr, Cleveland, OH 44106
Early Childhood, Lower, and Middle Schools, 5000 Clubside Rd, Lyndhurst, OH 44124
Birchwood School of Hawken, 4400 West 140th Street, Cleveland, OH 44135
Upper School, PO Box 8002 (12465 County Line Rd), Gates Mills, OH 44040
Mastery School of Hawken, 11025 Magnolia Dr, Cleveland, OH 44106
Gries Center, 10823 Magnolia Dr, Cleveland, OH 44106
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