Chesterton debaters captured three of four national qualifying spots at the Northeast District Congress Tournament held in Columbia City this past weekend. Ten schools from the Northeast District competed in the day long tournament to see who would represent the district at the NFL National Tournament in June. The three congressional qualifiers will join the five CHS debaters who qualified back in January.

Senior Adam Potrzebowski placed in the top two in the Senate to earn a spot at nationals. He bested 18 other students competing in the Senate. He will be joined by teammate Luke Morgan (12) who beat 15 other representatives in “House B.” Senior Syed Shah was the third qualifier beating 18 other students in “House A.”

Placing but not qualifying was senior Kira Gearin, who was fourth in the Senate. In House B juniors Dakota McCoy and Brandon Moore placed third and seventh, respectively. Sophomore Mike Leopold was second in House A.

This is the largest number of congressional qualifiers the team has had in many years. “We couldn’t be more pleased with the results,” Coach Scott Woodhouse said.

Joining Woodhouse was coach Chris Lowery, who also serves on the district committee. The team’s final national qualifying tournament, for the speech events will be held on March 13.

　Posted 2/23/2010