Four Shady Side Academy Senior School Speech and Debate Team students qualified to compete in the National Catholic Forensic League (NCFL) Grand National Tournament after strong performances at the district qualifier at Fox Chapel Area High School on Saturday, March 4.

Junior Mathew Long won first place in Congress-Senate while junior Hari Viswanathan placed sixth at the qualifier, both earning spots at nationals. The team of junior Abby Ondos and sophomore Audrey Jiang qualified for nationals in Duo Interpretation.

In addition, two students earned spots as alternates to NCFL nationals should qualifying students be unable to attend: sophomore Sonia Kshirsagar (not pictured) is the first alternate in Congress-Senate, while junior Andrew Zeng is the second alternate in Extemporaneous Speaking.

The NCFL Grand National Tournament will be held May 27-29 in Louisville, Ky. SSA team members will have a chance to earn a spot in the National Speech and Debate Association National Tournament at the NSDA district qualifiers on March 11 and 25.

Congratulations to all six students on a job well done!