Webster Club Policy Debate students have represented Marquette University High School at hundreds of tournaments throughout the United States. The following are some of the most impressive accomplishments by members of the team broken down by tournament. For a complete list of tournament honors broken down by season, please visit the main accomplishments page.
State and National Championships
State and National Invitational Tournaments
The Wisconsin State Debate Tournament
Wisconsin’s premier state debate championship since the 1991-1992 season, the Wisconsin State Debate Tournament (formerly the WDCA State Tournament of Champions) is open to teams that qualify by reaching the elimination rounds of a WDCA-sanctioned regular season tournament. Marquette has been one of the most successful programs at the WDCA State TOC since its inception, winning the championship in 2000-2001, 2007-2008, and 2008-2009 and finishing as the runner-up three times. The Hilltoppers cleared at least one team in seven consecutive seasons between 1997-1998 and 2003-2004 and have cleared 21 teams to the tournament’s elimination rounds since 1997.
The following is an incomplete list of Marquette teams that have cleared to elimination rounds at the Wisconsin State Debate Tournament (formerly the WDCA State TOC).
State Championships
State Runners-Up
State Semifinalists
State Quarterfinalists
In addition to team accomplishments, Webster Club debaters have received six top speaker awards including three in a row from 1999-2000 through 2001-2002. In total, the Hilltoppers have received 28 top ten speaker awards since 1997.
State Top Speakers
State Speaker Awards
Founded in the early 1970s, the Tournament of Champions is “America’s foremost debate competition.” Sponsored by the University of Kentucky’s Student Forum and Henry Clay Debate Council, the TOC is held each Spring to crown the nation’s top Policy, Lincoln-Douglas, Public Forum, and Student Congress debaters. Students must qualify to attend the TOC by clearing to the appropriate elimination rounds of various invitational tournaments during the season and doing so is one of the most impressive accomplishments of any high school debater.
Marquette has qualified dozens of debaters to the Tournament of Champions over the years including four consecutive Policy Debate teams between 1998-1999 and 2001-2002. In the final season of that impressive streak, Manav Bhatnagar was named the tournament’s third speaker and recipient of the prestigious Julia Burke Flame for Character and Excellence in National High School Policy Debate.
The following policy debate teams have qualified to represent Marquette University High School at the Tournament of Champions:
The National Forensic League National Tournament
Each June, the National Forensic League hosts its National Speech and Debate Tournament to crown champions in debate and forensics. Marquette has been one of the most dominant programs in the NFL’s history, finishing as runners-up in 1972 and clearing two teams to the semifinals in 1974.
Top Finishes at NFL Nationals
NFL National Qualifiers
Qualifying for the National Forensic League Tournament is quite an accomplishment in its own right. Of the many thousands of students who participate in policy debate each season, only a few hundred earn the right to compete for a championship. The following is a nearly complete list of Webster Club students who have qualified for the prestigious tournament in policy debate.
1950s and 1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
The Woodward 1st and 2nd Year National Tournament
Hosted by Woodward Academy in Atlanta every Spring, the First and Second Year National Tournament brings together the nation’s best young debaters for an intense season-ending tournament. Only recently added to the squad’s travel schedule, Marquette has fared very well in its two trips to Woodward.
Elimination Round Appearances
Top Speaker Awards
A staple on the Marquette travel schedule, the Season Opener at New Trier is one of the most competitive tournaments in the region. Featuring solid competition from throughout the Midwest and beyond, New Trier is a tough early season test for Webster Club policy debaters. Marquette has made ten elimination round appearances including two semifinals finishes and five consecutive seasons with at least one team in outrounds between 1997-1998 and 2001-2002 and four consecutive seasons between 2005-2006 and 2008-2009.
Elimination Round Appearances
The Hilltoppers have won eight speaker awards at New Trier including top honors in 2001-2002 and six awards in the top ten.
Top Speaker Awards
The Heart of Texas Invitational at St. Mark’s
The Heart of Texas Invitational has been one of the most competitive tournaments in the country since its inception in 1984. Limited to the top team or two teams from each squad, the field always includes the vast majority of the nation’s best teams. Marquette has only cleared to the elimination rounds at St. Mark’s three times and only once since the 1980s.
Elimination Round Appearances
Top Speaker Awards
The Pioneer Classic at East Grand Rapids
Another tough regional tournament, Marquette has had a great deal of success at the Pioneer Classic. Hosted for the first time in 1987 and for the last time in 2006, the East Grand Rapids tournament typically drew a strong field from the Great Lakes region and beyond. Marquette claimed back-to-back championships in 2000-2001 and 2001-2002 and has cleared eight teams to the elimination rounds.
Tournament Championships
Elimination Round Appearances
Despite winning five top-five speaker awards, a Hilltopper has never claimed the top speaker award at EGR. In total, Webster Club students have earned eleven speaker awards at the Pioneer Classic.
Top Speaker Awards
The largest forensics tournament hosted by a high school in the United States, The Glenbrooks is among the most prestigious competitions in the activity. Hosting schools from all across the United States and offering a full menu of events, The Glenbrooks is one of the most coveted championships in policy debate. The Hilltoppers lost in the final round of the 2001-2002 tournament and have cleared six teams to the elimination rounds over the past seven seasons.
Elimination Round Appearances
With seven preliminary rounds and one of the largest fields in the nation, winning a speaker award at The Glenbrooks requires a great deal of talent and good fortune. Webster Club students have won four such speaker awards over the last decade including the prestigious top speaker award in 2001-2002.
Top Speaker Awards
The Alexandra Hoecherl Challenge at Appleton East
The largest and most competitive tournament in Wisconsin (with the exception of Marquette’s own Hilltopper Classic), the Alexandra Hoecherl Challenge is named for the long-time director of debate at Appleton East during their dynastic run in the 1980s and 90s. Only recently added to Marquette’s calendar, the Webster Club has already claimed three championships at the unique challenge tournament and has cleared four teams to the elimination rounds. The tournament was not held during the 2008-2009 season and Marquette was snowed out of attending in 2006-2007.
Tournament Championships
Elimination Round Appearances
The speaker awards at the Alexandra Hoecherl Challenge are named the Reddy Awards after the Reddy family of outstanding Appleton East debaters. Marquette has won three top speaker awards including back-to-back in 2004-2005 and 2005-2006.
Top Speaker Awards
The Southern Bell Forum at Montgomery Bell Academy
One of the most competitive tournaments in the activity, the Southern Bell Forum has been hosted in Nashville, Tennessee by Montgomery Bell Academy since 1983. An invitation-only event that brings together the nation’s top Policy Debate teams, the Southern Bell Forum offers fierce competition, outstanding judging, and unparalleled hospitality.
“There a handful of national tournaments that generate a buzz in the debate world,” Montgomery Bell Academy Coach Alan Coverstone said of the tournament. “The Southern Bell Forum is one of those events that teams strive to reach; it’s definitely a top five tournament in the country.”
Marquette has cleared two teams to the Southern Bell Forum’s elimination rounds including a semifinalist in 2001-2002.
Elimination Round Appearances
Top Speaker Awards
The Barkley Forum at Emory University
Named after former Vice President Alben W. Barkley, the Barkley Forum is the intercollegiate debate and forensics organization at Emory University. Since 1956, the Barkley Forum has hosted an annual invitational tournament for high school students that seeks to honor “commitment to pedagogy, dedication to achievement, and respect for the efforts of others” as the defining characteristics of a quality forensics education.
In order to honor quality performance at the Barkley Forum For High Schools, the organization has awarded Memberships, or Chairs, to deserving high schools since 1963. Marquette became the first school from Wisconsin (and indeed outside the Southeast) to earn a Membership in the Barkley Forum when it was honored with the organization’s 45th Chair in 1969.
While the Barkley Forum For High Schools hosts competitions in several forensic events, the most prestigious championship remains the Pelham (Policy) Debates. Each year, the winners of the Policy Debate tournament join the Hall of Champions and are listed in the invitation and posted in the auditorium that hosts the final round and awards ceremony. Marquette joined the prestigious Hall of Champions for the first time in 1969 and won back-to-back titles in 1971 and 1972, becoming the only school ever to close-out the final round in 1971.
Tournament Championships
Elimination Round Appearances
Top Speaker Awards
The Harvard National Invitational Forensics Tournament
Each President’s Day Weekend since 1975 the Harvard Debate Team has hosted a national invitational tournament on the campus of Harvard University. The largest speech and debate tournament in the country, the Harvard National Invitational Forensics Tournament is one of the most prestigious championships in the activity. Marquette won the championship in 2001-2002 and has been in the late elimination rounds two other times this decade.
Tournament Championships
Elimination Round Appearances
Top Speaker Awards
More information about the Policy Debate program is available in the “About Webster Club” section of this site.