December 11, 2007 — The Cypress Falls High School Speech and Debate team had four students qualify for the state tournament and earned the first place sweepstakes award during the Clear Brook Tournament last weekend.
The Texas Forensic Association state tournament will be held in Dallas in February. Senior Emily Bennett and junior Alejandro Martinez qualifed for state by placing second in duet acting; freshman Lina Meghji qualified for state by placing second in oratory; and junior Saif Kazim qualified by placing first in Lincoln Douglas Debate.
The following Cypress Falls students also placed at the tournament:
Varsity Lincoln Douglas Debate : Sara Meghji, second place.
Novice Lincoln Douglas Debate : Henry Shi, first place; Lina Meghji, second place; and Jake Hassell and Layeeka Ismail, third place.
Duo Acting : Dimple Swali and Ruchi Gadiya, second place.
Dramatic : Emily Bennett, fourth place.
Novice Extemporaneous Speaking : Humale Khan, third place; Brian Hodge, fourth place; Jake Hassell, fifth place; and Avira Som, seventh place.
Varsity Prose : Galib Chowdhury, sixth place.
Novice Prose : Dimple Swali, second place; and Lina Meghji, fifth place.
Novice Poetry : Dimple Swali, first place.
Varsity Improvisation : Paige Fincher, seventh place.
Novice Improvisation : Lina Meghji, first place; Brian Hodge, second place; and Jake Hassell, third place.
The Golden Eagle team was joined by eight students from Labay. These middle school students had an impressive showing competing against high school students: sixth-grade students Melissa Du and Karen Li; seventh-grade students Sara Gollogy and Avira Som; and eighth-grade students Jake Hassell, Brian Hodge, Layeeka Ismail and Norman Ren.
Cypress Falls had never closed out the final round of a tournament prior to the Clear Brook Tournament. The team closed out the semifinals in both the Novice Lincoln Douglas Debate (first, second and third) and the finals in the Varsity Lincoln Douglas Debate (first and second).
“I attribute our success to the dedication, hard work and team effort of all of the competitors,” said Cypress Falls speech and debate coach Debbie Waddell.
Back to CFISD.NET |
