St. Mark’s Hosts Debate Tournament

St. Mark’s hosted its annual Heart of Texas Invitational debate tournament over the weekend of February 27. More than 650 students representing 20 states participated in the virtual event. St. Mark’s Debate Coach Tim Mahoney organizes the long-running tournament, teaching his boys how to be gracious hosts as well as talented debaters.  

“At its core, debate is about listening and responding respectfully,” said Mr. Mahoney. “That is a skill that will serve the boys throughout their lives.”

Marksmen performed well, with three teams of two making it to the quarterfinals of their respective divisions: Ashrit Manduva ’24 and Kevin Lu ’24; Liam Seaward ’24 and Alex Pan ’24; and Max Chuang ’22 and Zayn Bhimani ’22.

“The best moment of the tournament for me was getting to face and win against someone I know from Westwood High School in Austin,” said Ashrit. “It was amusing to be able to banter with him about the round afterward.”

David Baker, Director of Admission & Financial Aid, helped form the Heart of Texas tournament back in 1985. “At the time, there were no ‘national level’ events in the Dallas area,” Mr. Baker said. “Within a few years, the tournament included over 100 schools from all across the United States.” 

The Heart of Texas Tournament, which is part of the National Speech & Debate Association tournament circuit, featured several speech and debate events. The policy debate varsity division was won by North Broward (FL), and the Lincoln-Douglas debate varsity division was won by The Harker School (CA). 

 “Debate helps me develop skills that I often use in other parts of life, like being able to back up a claim and look for flaws in an argument,” said Liam Seaward.

First- and second-year debaters will compete in a series of championship tournaments throughout March. Varsity debaters will compete next in the National Debate Coaches Association National Championships on the weekend of April 10.