Debate Team Is First in State

The Piedmont Academy debate team captured its eleventh state championship title on Friday with a near-perfect record of 7-1 during the Georgia Independent School Association (GISA) state tournament at Mercer University.

Debating as Piedmont’s affirmative team were Drayton Ballard and Bryn McDermott, and their task in rounds against the negative teams from other schools was to support this year’s national debate topic that the United States Federal government should substantially decrease its authority to either detain without charge or to search without probable cause.

Mr. Ballard and Ms. McDermott’s specific case dealt with the enemy combatants detained at the U.S. Naval base in Guantanamo Bay.

As the negative team, Logan Gramzinski and Allison Hirsh argued against the resolution and topics presented by the affirmative teams from Brookwood, David Emanuel Academy, Pinewood Christian Academy, and Valwood School.

Mr. Gramzinski and Ms. Hirsh had to be prepared to argue any specific issues brought up by their opponents, and they won all four of their rounds on topics such as extraordinary rendition and the detainment of Japanese during World War II.

Additionally, the team members received four out of six top speaker awards with Mr. Ballard in sixth place, Ms. Hirsch in fourth, Ms. McDermott in third, and Mr. Gramzinski in first out of 20 speakers at the tournament. This was the fourth year in a row that Mr. Gramzinski was named the top speaker at the GISA State AA debate tournament.
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This third straight state championship title is added to numerous other team accomplishments this year. At the Westminster tournament in Augusta, Mr. Ballard and Ms. Hirsch were the third place team in the varsity division and missed the championship round by only a few points.

Debating by himself, or “maverick” as it is called in the debate world, Mr. Gramzinski won first place speaker and champion of the 24th annual Stratford tournament in Macon, for the second year in a row.

Mr. Gramzinski and Ms. McDermott have also been competitive on the national debate circuit, posting winning records at The Glebrooks Debate Tournament in Chicago, Ill., Ohio Valley Tournament in Lexington, Ky., the Southern Bell Fourum XXIV in Nashville, Tenn., and the Lexington Winter Tournament in Boston, Mass.

Some of these national debate competitions are invitation only events where tournament directors invite public and private schools from all over the United States to bring their top competitive policy debate team.

Mr. Gramzinski and Ms. McDermott recently finished in the top 16 among 115 teams at the tournament in Boston, and Mr. Gramzinski was named 15th speaker from more than 200 competitors.

Though all four members of the state championship team are seniors, Piedmont’s debate team has a bright future. In their very first debate tournament, the team of Matt Sessions and Trevor Wilson, both eighth graders, came in third place of the Westminster tournament in Augusta, missing the championship round of the novice division by half a speaker point.

Additionally, Mr. Wilson was named second place speaker in the novice division. The team of seventh grader Rhett Roberts and eighth grader Brittany Rose also made strong showings at their first competitions at Westminster and Straford. All four of these middle school students served as alternates and attended the state competition on Friday.

This year’s team is coached by Ms. Bobbi Sauls, and they received much support during their state competition from their former coach Mrs. Charlotte Crawley as well as Dr. and Mrs. Bill Gramzinski, Mrs. Barbara Hirsch, Mrs. Pam McDermott, and Ms. Vickie Mills.

While the GISA 2005-06 debate season is over, both varsity and novice team members are preparing to the Bishop Guild Tournament at Samford University in Birmingham, Ala. The varsity team also will participate in the University of California at Berkeley Tournament and the Vestavia Hills Tournament in Birmingham, Ala.