State Tournament 2021

This past weekend, MSD had the opportunity to defend our reigning state champion title for the fifth time…and we did it! Thank you to everyone who played a part in putting together and preparing for the first ever online California State Tournament, and congratulations to the following competitors, octofinalists, semifinalists, and champions:

Competitors:

Ashwath Bhupatiraju (DI)

Dhruv Kanumury (OPP)

Ines Benmakhlouf (DI)

Reagan Such (POI)

Kriti Vamshidhar (Congress)

Caitlin Bergevin (Congress)

Pranay Macherla and Siddharth Nair (PF)

Ahilan Karuppusami (Children’s Literature)

Jaelynn Pascual (Children’s Literature)

Annabelle Barbazette (Poetry)

Octofinalists:

Ishir Vaidyanath and Rayan Garg (Parli)

Semifinalists:

Anousha Athreya (Congress)

Justin Fusilero (HI)

Amit Chathoth (HI)

Amy Gruber (OPP)

Anish Gupta (OPP)

Camille Van Bruaene (POI)

Rohan Rane (POI)

Alex Ali (NX)

Drake Som (OO)

Riti Dey (TikTok)

Ria Sudhir (Poetry)

Victoria Liu (Poetry)

Finalists:

Kate Nidome (DI)

Callie Watson (DI)

Jenika Fernando (OI)

Sritha Bhupatiraju (HI)

Chidubem Nwosu (OA)

Jack Hull and Jack Clisbee (DUO)

Rohan Tawade (Expos)

Eric Matsumoto and Param Patel (DUO)

Genevieve McKenzie and Milo Mee (DUO)

Srikar Rajendran and Ronak Bhat (DUO)

Khushi Parikh (OA)

Isabella Nicolletti (OPP)

Zuri Wilson (OPP)

Angelina Arnst (OI)

Gabriel Brenner (Children’s Literature)

Sebastian Young (TikTok)

Alexis Korb (TikTok)

Tournament Champions:

Marijka Vernooy (OI)

Nishita Belur and Khushi Parikh (Parli)

Sydnie Domingue (POI)

Shefali Bharadwaj (TikTok)

If you’re interested in watching our state finalist and champion performances, feel free to use these links to watch a livestream of their final rounds:

DUO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6J6iBEsm3QY

OO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lbi9AEFATc

HI: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muzXbAz1x2Y

POI: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Da8m7nnLIgA

OA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k856KNcdJzM

DI: https://youtu.be/dz7O3XF3JZQ

Parli: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPhy0UDyRww

Unfortunately, the OPP and OI final round videos will not be available until CHSSA uploads them to their website, but you can watch our state champion OI here:

https://youtu.be/mgRLEd5Bx1w

And finally, some photos from the weekend!

socially distanced timechecks

we had our first in-person blitzes of the year in the weeks leading up to state—and our first group timechecks!

we miss you Mr. Mills

the team wore bracelets with the words “make your own luck,” celebrating the legacy of Mr. Mills.

state shoeboxes

state competitors enjoyed a virtual “shoebox” complete with good luck messages, memes, recipes for between-round snacks, and letters from family. thank you to the department of state for putting them together!

grubhub gift cards

to make up for cancelled blitz dinners (due to the pandemic), competitors were each sent a Grubhub gift card to buy themselves a post-round treat.

care packages

courtesy of MSD team parents, each competitor received a care package filled with snacks, drinks, and a friendship bracelet! thank you parents :)

timechecks!

following the tradition of doing things in five’s (for the fivepeat!) competitors completed five timechecks at 5:55 PM the week before the state tournament.

championship belt

the team brought out our championship WWE belt—a tradition started by wrestling superfan Mr. Cruz.

poi champion!

state competitors gathered to watch the awards livestream in the theater. congratulations to senior Sydnie Domingue for taking 1st in POI!

oi champion!

congratulations to junior Marijka Vernooy for being MSD’s first ever OI champion!

parli champions!

and congratulations to seniors Khushi Parikh and Nishita Belur for being MSD’s first ever debate state champions!!!

celebration!

after winning our fifth consecutive state championship, we took to slack (our main method of team-wide communication) to celebrate, remember how we got to this point, and thank everyone who helped make it happen.

state champions

the 2021 state champions in POI, OI, Parli, and Tiktok! we are so proud of you <3