Speech and Debate Ranked Number One in Virginia

The Potomac Speech and Debate team spent Presidents’ Day weekend competing in the Harvard National High School Invitational Forensics Tournament, the most prestigious high school speech and debate tournament in the country. More than 4,000 students from 38 states and six countries competed in this year’s event, including 31 from Potomac. Taylor Burris ‘24 led the way for our school, earning a final-round appearance in extemp speaking. In addition to Burris’ final round, Potomac had seven other quarterfinalists. Sasha Liefer ‘26 and Miqy Khapra ‘26 went undefeated in prelims and advanced to the round of 32 in eliminations among more than 300 novice public forum teams. Next up are the five national qualifiers for the team. Potomac enters the qualifying part of the season ranked number one in Virginia and number 82 in the nation. View who advanced to the elimination rounds and recent results from other tournaments.