Debate team takes gold at district

By Donnie A. Lucas

A pair of Albany High sophomores brought home the gold from the District 10-2A Cross Examination Debate contest held Monday in Cisco.

Ella Webb and Leddie Leech won the first place plaque for the event, and both girls received individual speaking awards based on points awarded by the judge.

Webb was named the top speaker, followed by Leech in second place.

“This is the first time in a very long time that we have had students enter into UIL debate competition,” high school counselor and event sponsor Jenny Scott said. “The girls came to me and wanted to try it. We still had time to enter and compete at district.”

The first place team automatically advances to the state Cross-X contest set for March 15-16. Unfortunately, due to the coronavirus, the state meet will be held virtually using a livestream.

“We both like to argue, so we thought we might be good at debate,” Webb said. “It was a lot of work to research the topic and prepare the affirmative and negative speeches.”

The topic this year was reform in the criminal justice system.

“I was super nervous at first, but when we actually started, it was a lot of fun,” Leech said. “I learned a lot about legal terms, and I think things I’m learning now will definitely help me in the future.”

Contestants are given the topic for the year well in advance in order to allow time for research and preparing opposing arguments. The topic remains the same through the state meet.

The Albany team debated against Cisco using the affirmative position, then argued the negative position against Anson. Albany won both stances.