Community

Bridgewater-Raritan High School’s Speech and Debate team dominated at UPenn tournament

Anshuman Roy, Community Editor

February 10, 2026

The BRHS Speech & Debate team won awards in countless categories at the UPenn Liberty Bell Classic. (Anaya Tejani)

Over 56 competitors from the Bridgewater-Raritan High School Speech and Debate team participated in the University of Pennsylvania Liberty Bell Classic from February 6 to 8.

Participants competed in a different format than usual, with the Public Forum (PF) and Lincoln-Douglas (LD) Debate categories taking place online while Congress Debate and Speech took place on the main Penn campus in Philadelphia.

The tournament marked a significant event in the Bridgewater-Raritan Forensics season, being part of the national circuit, alongside the Pennsbury Falcon Invitational, which took place the week prior. Competitors in varsity categories would have the opportunity to earn Tournament of Champions (TOC) qualifying bids, depending on their placements. Significant preparation, casework and research was undertaken before the event.

Students placed across the board in speech and debate categories, including Public Forum, Lincoln-Douglas, Parliamentary, Original Oratory, Impromptu Speaking, Extemporaneous Speaking, Declamation and Congress.

Speech & Debate Vice President Paritosh Bhole, who placed in the semifinals of Congress, with team advisor Mr. Alben Fischer. (Paritosh Bhole)

In Varsity Public Forum, with over 110 entries, six Bridgewater-Raritan teams broke past the preliminary round: Gayatri Krishnan an Anaya Tejani advanced to triplefinals, while Anton Fomin and Ishaan Shetty and Hrishi Patel and Jasmeet Singh advanced to double octofinals; they all obtained a silver bid to TOC. Rishabh Sankar and Arnav Dham also advanced to double octofinals, earning a silver bid and qualifying for silver TOC.

Moreover, Viraaj Marathe and Rishi Khanna and Rithvik Krish and Om Shah advanced to the quarterfinal stage, both teams obtaining a gold bid and automatically qualifying for silver TOC, which will be held in late April by the University of Kentucky.

Paritosh Bhole also advanced to semifinals in Varsity Congress, out of a competitor pool of over 130 students. Congressional debate rounds took place at Fagin Hall at the University of Pennsylvania.

Additionally, Gia Agarwal championed the Novice LD Category, a huge achievement in placing first out of well over a hundred competitors.

Other notable debate placements include:

Arihaan Mallick, JV LD, Quarterfinals
Avik Dutta & Aria Mahajan, JV PF, Quarterfinals
Darsh Gaur & Anshuman Roy, JV PF, Quarterfinals
Nikitha Pulluru & Yusuf Syed, Novice PF, Quarterfinals
Kartik Khurana, Novice LD, Quarterfinals
Laasya Pothuru, Novice LD; Semifinals
Advik Narasimhan, Novice LD, Semifinals

Achyut Nuli, speech captain, placed first in Original Oratory out of over 60 competitors.

Within the speech events, Achyut Nuli won the Original Oratory category, which featured over 65 competitors. He also obtained a gold bid to TOC.

In addition to placement awards, several Bridgewater-Raritan debaters also earned speaker awards, emphasizing their expertise in articulation and clear communication:

Rishabh Sankar, Varsity PF, 7th
Patrick Maginn, Varsity LD, 8th
Anika Nandi, JV LD, 3rd
Anshuman Roy, JV PF, 7th
Gia Agrawal, Novice LD, 2nd

The University of Pennsylvania Liberty Bell Classic was an immense success for the Bridgewater-Raritan Forensics Team and a testament to the preparation of the competitors, captains and advisors. Furthermore, positioned between other crucial national circuit tournaments, the tournament served as valuable preparation for the team’s upcoming event, the Harvard National Speech and Debate Tournament, which will take place from February 14 to February 16.

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About the Contributors

Anshuman Roy, Community Editor

Anshuman Roy, a sophomore at BRHS, is a Community Corner Editor for The Prowler, a section focused on club and community-related affairs across the student body. He believes that journalism is foundational for effective communication, critical analysis skills, and increased awareness, as it translates complex topics into an accessible form for the public. In addition to writing, Anshuman enjoys playing and watching tennis.

Paritosh Bhole, Editor-in-Chief

Paritosh Bhole, who is a senior at BRHS, has been a member of The Prowler for all four years of his high school career. He is also in his second year as the Editor-In-Chief, a crucial position that he shares this school year of 2025-2026 with fellow seniors Agastya Shahane and Ananya Gupta. Paritosh has always enjoyed journalism and being in touch with the school community. To him, writing is one of the most impactful ways of expressing ideas and emotions. And Bridgewater-Raritan High School is full of countless journalism opportunities. Away from writing, Paritosh spends his time playing the cello, playing basketball and reading leisurely.