USC wins state speech and debate championship
The Upper St. Clair High School Speech and Debate team has once again been crowned Pennsylvania High School Speech League (PHSSL) state champions. This marks the Panthers’ fourth state title since 2017.
Competing in the large-school division during the tournament held at Bloomsburg University, USC earned 600.5 points. North Allegheny finished second with 519.5 points, and Pennsbury High School was third with a 348 score. USC also took top honors in Speech Sweepstakes and second in Debate Sweepstakes.
Individually, senior Nitin Chandran finished first in Extemporaneous. With three other classmates ranking in the top six, this marks the first time in PHSSL state history where four finalists in an event were from the same school.
The following competitors advanced to Debate semifinal rounds for places third and fourth: Lucia Miles and Savera Baloch – Policy Debate; Jack Miller and Patrick Nowak – Parliamentary Debate; and Opal Miller and Aahna Sinha – Public Forum Debate.
The following competitors advanced to Speech final rounds: Ansh Goyal – Senate – second place; Aarav Patil – Persuasive – second; Rosemary Ramirez – Impromptu – second; Ashe Sobel-Drum – Senate – third; Vincent Watson – Informative – third; Cameron Weber – Extemporaneous – third; Matthew Hrehocik – Extemporaneous – fourth; and Ishaan Sharma – Extemporaneous – fifth.
The following competitors advanced to quarterfinals in Debate: Jasmine Dietiker and Edy McCurrie – Parliamentary Debate; Shubham Patel and Shiven Verma – Policy Debate; Isabella Lin and Zahra Khan – Parliamentary Debate; Qadir Khan – Extemporaneous Debate; and Nikhita Thakuria – Lincoln-Douglas Debate (Play-in Round).
The following competitors made the semifinals in Speech events (Top 12): Ujal Gautam – Senate; Priyasha Itani – Persuasive; Max Gresh and Arnav Kumar – News Broadcasting; Rohan Mehta – Commentary; Maanasa Reddy – Persuasive; Lilia Schmidt – Humor and Divya Udhayakumar – Informative.
The following students also qualified for the state tournament: Josh Anand and Henry Ginsburg – Parliamentary Debate; Nicky Misquitta – House; Medha Misra – Lincoln-Douglas Debate; Priyanka Palayekar – Senate; Anushka Sharma – Poetry; Tommy Slowey and Manav Kumar – Duo Interpretation; Isabel Vilensky and Theeya Chen – Public Forum Debate as well as Henry Zheng – Commentary.
The USC Speech and Debate team was coached by high school teachers Ben Edwards and Dave Watson. Founded in 1961, the PHSSL’s purpose is to stimulate through educational competition an understanding and appreciation of all areas of speech.