The debate team had a strong performance at the Heart of Texas Invitational tournament, which was hosted virtually from Feb. 27 to March 1.

In the novice division, ninth-grader Cyrus Esmailzadeh advanced to 6th place and won second best speaker. He qualified but did not advance to elimination rounds, because he competed without a partner. 

“I was somewhat of a big accomplishment,” Cyrus said about winning second best speaker. “I know not to take these things as huge matters because obviously the entire setting of debate is very different, compared to what the real thing will be like in-person.” 

JV team members Austin Kim and Mahi Shah, both ninth graders, finished eighth seed and advanced to octofinals; Mahi won third best speaker and Austin won 17th best speaker. Connor Booth and Adam Cheema, also ninth graders, finished ninth seed and won quarterfinals. Connor won 20th best speaker. 

In the varsity division, juniors Brandon Bousquette and Tech Nix finished with an even record: winning three times and losing three times. 

“It was a pretty good tournament,” Tech said. “For varsity, it’s our last of the year because all the rest conflict with school, so we wanted to do pretty well and we did — not as well as we wanted to, but it wasn’t too bad.”