From left: senior Rishab Chimmanamada, senior Mako Giordano, junior Mayank Mardia, and head coach Ian Gunn ’07 celebrate Rishab and Mayank’s TOC bid.

The Debate Team competed at the Isidore Newman Invitational held Dec. 12-14, 2014, and made history along the way.

In Public Forum Debate, the team of senior Rishab Chimmanamada and junior Mayank Mardia advanced all the way to the final round, finishing as the runner up after a 2-1 finals decision in favor of the other team. In the process, they earned the second Tournament of Champions (TOC) bid of their careers and their first TOC bid this year. TOC bids are some of the most coveted achievements in debate. Earning two bids in the same year qualifies a team to the National Tournament of Champions, the most prestigious high school debate tournament in the country, and marks a team as one of the elite high school teams in the nation. This marks the first time in Jesuit’s debate history that two Public Forum teams have received TOC bids in the same year. Earlier in the year, the team of senior Mako Giordano and junior Andrew Cerise earned a TOC bid at the Holy Cross tournament in New Orleans.

The Public Forum team of sophomores Jaime Colon and Ben Roberts also performed well, advancing to octafinals, their first time reaching elimination rounds at a tournament. The team is grateful to alumni Jacob Pritt ’12 and Eduard Spinu ’14 as well as Ms. Janis van Meerveld, all of whom helped judge at the tournament. Alumnus Ian Gunn ’07 coaches the Debate Team along with assistant coaches Mr. Travis Smith and alumnus Jim Huang ’14.

The team’s next tournament is at Cabrini High School in New Orleans from Jan.16-17, 2015.