By Will Fuschillo ’19

After a brief summer off following their impressive 2016-17 season, members of the Robert C. Wright Speech and Debate Team returned to action Saturday, September 16 competing in the annual Yale Invitational Tournament in New Haven, Connecticut.  The team, which has been practicing since mid-August, began what it hopes to be another stellar year by showcasing their skills at the season’s first national circuit tournament.

The Flyers left on Friday afternoon to journey to New Haven with speakers and debaters from Syosset High School.  Debaters began their opening rounds on Friday night, while preliminaries for speakers kicked off on Saturday morning.  Chaminade had a very successful weekend, with numerous Flyers advancing to the elimination rounds.  The team of Thomas Flatley ’17 and Rohan Sasso ’17 competed in triple-octofinals in Public Forum Debate.  John Michael Magloire ’18 also finished in triple-octo rounds for varsity Lincoln Douglas Debate.  Christian Borusso ’19, Peter Vouthas ’20, and Grant Allen ’20 all advanced to elimination rounds in junior varsity Lincoln Douglas debate, with Christian Borusso winning his first elimination round but ultimately dropping in octofinals.  In speech, Patrick McKenna ’18 was a quarterfinalist in humorous interpretation, matched by Ryan Malloy ’18, a quarterfinalist in student congress.

Looking forward to the remainder of the speech and debate season, new members of the team are eager to gain more experience and prove that they too can compete at a high level of competition.  “We have been working with the novices for a few weeks now and can’t wait to see how they perform at our first local tournament.” said Thomas Flatley.  

John Michael Magloire, the unquestioned leader of this year’s squad, hopes the team can pick up where it left off last season.  “I was extremely proud of how the team performed this weekend,”  said John Michael. “This was a great start to our season, and we are looking to build upon it.”