Chesterton High School wins state debate title

The Chesterton High School debate team recaptured the state debate crown Saturday in a win over perennial rival West Lafayette at the Indiana High School Forensics Association championship tournament.

The 92-to-76.5 point victory over West Lafayette brings to 23 the number of outright wins for the Chesterton debate team out of 31 titles since the state debate championships started.

Chesterton junior Abby Burke was individual state champion in the Lincoln-Douglas category; this year, that category debated the res- olution that developing countries should prioritize environmental protection over resource extraction.

Matt Eggers and Salman Lakhani were runners-up in Public Forum debate.

Tied for third in Policy debate were the teams of Nadia Mario and Katherine Bolek and Zach Bogich and Alex Genetski.

In the Congress category, Munster debater Sidarth Singh was declared champion and his teammate, Rathnam Venkat, placed second. Chesterton’s Mikaela Meyer placed third.

“CHS debate is once again coming home as state champions,” an ecstatic coach Chris Lowery said in a text message sent while on the bus-trip back to Chesterton Saturday night.

Only three top finishers for Chesterton are seniors — the rest return next season.

“We scored a ton of points in each of the four events,” said Lowery. “It’s a total team victory. The top kids performed really well all weekend.”