NSDA Nationals 2023 Results
This summer ten students qualified for and attended the NSDA National Championship — the largest academic competition in the world! It was AA’s 36th appearance at Nationals, and we were honored to be the NM program with the single highest number of qualifiers in debate events. Nationals is a marathon of a tournament, spanning a full week compared to most tournaments’ single weekend-long endeavors. Students approached the week with excellent preparation and were eager to take in as much as they could from the experience, competing in supplemental events, watching as many national champion rounds as they could, and making connections with students from other schools. Of the ten who attended, it was all but three students’ very first time at the National Championship.
We are thrilled to announce the following notable results from this tournament:
Speech
Quarter-finalist in Impromptu Speaking (29th place out of 552) — Becca Faber (all 1’s in prelims!)
Debate
Double-Octafinalists in World Schools Debate (23rd place out of 184 — Thomas Wray & Ashna Singh as part of NM Team Gold
(beat the #4 seeded team in Triples-Octos!)
Additionally:
Becca Faber received a perfect score of straight “1’s” in the prelim rounds of Impromptu
In fact, Becca’s run in Impromptu puts her in the top 5% of all competitors in the nation!
It is no surprise then that Becca’s performance in Impromptu represented the single best run we’ve ever had in a Supplemental Event at Nationals
Darin Eberhardt & Leo Crowley were one ballot shy of advancing to elimination rounds in Policy Debate
Thomas Wray & Ashna Singh contributed to a major upset against the New England Blue Team in Triple Octafinals, beating the 4th-highest-seeded team in the entire tournament
Thomas & Ashna’s performance in World Schools Debate put them in the top 15% of all teams, and represented the best run we’ve had in that event since 2020
And, our school was lucky enough to have TWO of our members selected to judge the Final Championship rounds — a huge honor! Junior Leo Crowely judged the Middle School Policy Debate Final and Head Coach Elise Matton judged the High School Policy Debate Final.
Nationals is a gargantuan-sized tournament with over 5,600 students competing, the vast number of whom never reach elimination rounds. The fact that three of our students did so, despite it being all of their very first times at Nationals as underclassmen, is a huge testament to our success. We were lucky to have so many in attendance as well, as over three-quarters of the other schools in New Mexico had between 1-2 entries competing. In contrast, we had almost triple that amount having secured 6 slots overall. We are incredibly grateful for the support in attending, especially from the assistant coaches and parent chaperones —Emily Hiller and Jessica Carothers— for helping to make it happen.
It was a good year to be a Charger at Nationals!
