Members of the Milton High School debate team travelled to New Haven, Connecticut last weekend to take part in a national debate competition. They acquitted themselves well. Two of Milton’s teams advanced to semi-final rounds.

Milton High School brought four pairs of debaters to the Yale Invitational tournament: Katrina Kourtelidis & Tess Deaibes; Olivia Erickson & Anna Lamb; Chris Ricciuti & Jack Caljouw; and Cormac Conners & Chris Dsida.

“It was a very exciting weekend as we were impressed by the high level of competition by our students,” said Nancy Warn, who coaches the team along with Nick Fitzgerald. “The season is off to a great start and Nick and I are very proud of our debaters.”

For the first time ever, Milton High had two teams advance to post rounds at this tournament. There were 480 students competing and four Milton High students — Chris Ricciuti & Jack Caljouw, Cormac Conners & Chris Dsida – all advanced. In addition to the two Milton High teams placing, debaters Chris Ricciuti and Jack Caljouw were ranked in the top 20 at the tournament for speaker points, from a field of 480 students.

The students competed Friday night and all day Saturday as part of the competition. Coaches Warn and Fitzgerald said that all of these students took time out of their summer schedules to begin research and preparations for this tournament, and also attended evening practices from the start of September.

This was the largest group of debaters Milton High School has taken to the Yale Invitational and the first time Milton High students have advanced at a national collegiate tournament. More than 240 public forum debaters from across the nation participated in the annual event.

Ms. Warn said she would also like to thank Mike Dsida and Mike Ricciuti for sharing the chaperone responsibilities, as well as for judging rounds on Friday night and Saturday.

“The level of commitment, preparation and sheer talent of the MHS team – debaters and coaches alike – is beyond impressive,” said Mike Ricciuti, a Milton parent who accompanied the team to Yale.

The Yale Invitational is an annual debate tournament hosted by the Yale Debate Association, an undergraduate debating society at Yale University.