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Barlow High School's debate team claimed its third consecutive first-place finish of the season Saturday at Pomperaug High School. This time it was the Kang Brothers, senior Daniel and junior David, who won it all for Barlow. They were the top varsity seeds coming out of Round 3, defeating Wilton, Newtown and Nonnewaug High Schools. Having the best score among all undefeated teams, they advanced to the final exhibition round against Gemma Gamberdell and Andrew Hunt from Wilton High School.
In addition to taking the first-place varsity team award, the brothers both finished among the Top 10 speakers overall with Dan in fifth and David in eighth. Dan had a perfect 30 points in Round 1 against Wilton. They join teammates Henry Knight, Nico Marzaro and Brendan Coppinger, who all have first-place finishes under their belts this season.
Also in the Top 20 varsity teams were Max Malec and Luke Vogel and juniors Henry Knight and Morgan Jordan, who were all 2-1 for the day. Rounding out the varsity roster were three pairs who each picked up a win. Senior co-captain Matt Gombos and junior Alex Cheu beat East Catholic in Round 2 with Cheu earning a near-perfect 29 points in Round 2. Sophomore Ben Lewson's consistently topical and respectful rhetoric put him among the Top 20 speakers of the day. Juniors Vance Hancock and Matt DiPalma got by Simsbury in Round 1.
Barlow's freshman novices all went 2-1 for the day. Daanish Siddiqi and Jeremy Touma went 2-1, beating Amity and Hamden. Brendan O'Connor's regular partner couldn't attend, so he paired with a student from Pomperaug to defeat Nonnewaug and Simsbury. The three will advance to state finals because of trophies earned in October.
Now at the midpoint of the season, 11 Barlow students have earned trophies, qualifying them to compete for titles at the State Finals in March. Barlow was varsity champion in 2008 and 2009.
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