Greenhill Debate Captures NDCA National Championship Crown

The Greenhill Debate Team captured the national title at the National Debate Coaches Association Championships held at Weber State University this past weekend.Junior Shruthi Krishnan captured the individual national championship and was awarded with the Top Speaker Award in the Lincoln Douglas Division. Sophomore Brian Zhou reached the quarterfinals and finished ninth overall in the Lincoln Douglas Division. Senior Diego Marrero and junior Ali Khambati earned a berth in the Octofinals in Policy Debate while junior Sam Grimsley and sophomore Chris Eckert both reached the Double Octofinals in Policy Debate.In addition, Greenhill's Junior Varsity and Novice Debaters captured the Woodward National Championship that was held in Atlanta over spring break. Zhou along with sophomore Mihir Rai closed out the final round of Lincoln Douglas Debate, which allowed the Greenhill teammates to share the Co-National Championship. Also, Zhou and Rai were selected as the second and third speakers, respectfully. In the Novice Policy Debate Division, freshman Sophia Hurst and Anais Zhang reached the semifinals while sophomores Samar Ahman and Timothy Wegener eached a berth in the quarterfinals in the Junior Varsity Division.During the first week of spring break, the Debate Team participated at the Texas Forensic Association State Tournament held at Plano West High School Marrero and Khambati dropped a split-decision in the semifinals and were awarded with third-place honors. Eckert and Grimsley both reached the quarterfinals of the TFA State Tournament, which is the largest and most competitive tournament in the country.Junior Shreya Agarwala - who is currently a member of the Development Team for the National Speech & Debate Association National Team - was awarded with 11th Individual Speaker honors and reach the Octofinals at the International World Schools Tournament held at Harvard University. The tournament included teams from the United States, Peru, Hong Kong, Denmark, Canada and Uganda.