At the University of Kentucky’s 2023 Tournament of Champions, held earlier this month, senior Muzzi Khan won the national championship in Lincoln-Douglas Debate. The topic was “Resolved: Justice requires open borders for human migration.” After an excellent preliminary record, Khan went on to win five single elimination rounds. In the final round, he successfully defended the affirmative side of the resolution against a team from Strake Jesuit in Houston. Harker also won the National Debate Coaches Association national championship, making it only the third time in history that a team has won both titles in the same year.  

Several other students also had excellent showings at the tournament. Gordy Sun, grade 11, was named second in the nation in extemporaneous speaking. Fellow junior Daniel Lin was a finalist in congressional debate. The duo of Sasha Masson and Adrian Liu, both juniors, made it to the elimination rounds of public forum debate. Dyllan Han, grade 11, and Joy Hu, grade 9, won awards in original oratory. Lastly, juniors Ansh Sheth and Kabir Buch advanced in Lincoln Douglas debate. 

Because qualifying for the Tournament of Champions is a difficult task, coaches expressed their pride in the following participants who competed in a variety of speech and debate events: Michelle Jin and Carol Wininger, grade 12; Iris Fu, Panav Gogte, Ariav Misra, Max Xing and Fiona Yan, grade 11; Robert Fields, Jacqueline Huang, Kashish Priyam, Ruhan Sahasi, Veer Shasi and Jason Shim, grade 10; and Roshan Amurthur, Pavitra Kasthuri and Sofia Shah, grade 9.