Last weekend, Dalton’s parliamentary debate team took first place for the second time in a row, this time at their home tournament. At the New York Parliamentary Debate League December Invitational, Austin Gordon '26 and Campbell Langdon '26 were the champions of the varsity division, having been named co-champions of the Ridge Debate Tournament’s varsity division one week earlier. Emmalyn Zuzunaga '26 and Olivia Meyer '26 were the champions of the novice division, a feat that required winning seven debates on seven different topics.

Besides our four champions, Dalton debaters accrued further honors. In the varsity division, Annika Maduraperuma '26 and Shreya Ranjan '26 advanced to the semifinal and were individually 5th and 9th place speakers overall. Noor Nassar '26, Lauren Nam '26, Emily Eng '27, and Matt Stewart '27 advanced to the quarterfinal. Noor was also the 3rd speaker overall. Constantine Dracopoulos '25, Nelson Liu '25, Vihaan Kotahwala '25, and Ollie Feder '25 advanced to the octofinal, and Constantine was 8th speaker overall. In the novice division, Ben Wiedman '27 and Cecilia Pascual '27 advanced to the semifinal. Matt and Emily were also 1st and 4th novice speakers overall. Despite being novices, they advanced into the varsity elimination bracket because they were one of just three teams to achieve a perfect 5-0 record in preliminary rounds.