Akhil Gandra Wins the 2015 Cougar Classic

Houston, TX -- Congratulations to Westwood's Akhil Gandra for winning the 2015 Cougar Debate Classic held at the University of Houston! In finals, Akhil defeated Strake Jesuit's Alberto Tohme on a 2-1 decision (Baig, Sharma, Koshak*). Congratulations to both debaters! The Cougar Classic is a semifinals bid qualifier to the Tournament of Champions.

Congratulations to Akhil Gandra, Alberto Tohme, Abbey Chapman, and Tyler Gamble for reaching semifinals and earning bids!

Pairings can be found on Tabroom: https://www.tabroom.com/index/tourn/index.mhtml?tourn_id=3254

Double Octafinals

Strake Jesuit AT def Dulles KL

Strake Jesuit JZ def Blaine HP

Cypress Woods NS def Dulles SK

Katy Taylor NY def Dulles AW

Calhoun Home AC def Clements AT

Westwood AG def Dulles AK

Westlake DB def Dulles SA

Woodlands AC def Strake Jesuit RC

Kinkaid TG def Clements EM

Dulles KS def Kinkaid JY

Strake Jesuit ATo def Oxbridge NV

Kinkaid NK def Cy-Fair CM

Woodlands College Prep VM def Strake Jesuit SM

Clements FT def Episcopal AB

Clements SR over Clements RG

Kinkaid MS over Kinkaid EH

Octafinals

Strake Jesuit JZ def Cypress Woods NS

Dulles KS def Kinkaid MS

Kinkaid NK def Katy Taylor NY

Westwood AG def Clements SR

Woodlands AC def Westlake DB

Kinkaid TG def Clements FT

Strake Jesuit ATo def Calhoun Home AC

Woodlands College Prep VM def Strake Jesuit AT

Quarterfinals

Kinkaid TG def Dulles KS (Kevin Si) (Castllo, Dar Dar, Bates)

Woodlands AC def Strake Jesuit JZ (Joe Zaghrini) (Graves, Breland, Popatia)

Strake Jesuit ATo def Kinkaid NK (Nina Kalluri) (Kassam, Roy, Koshak)

Westwood AG def Woodlands College Prep VM (Venkatesh Muppaneni) (Hodge, Xiong, Van Berg)

Semifinals (bid)

Strake Jesuit ATo def Kinkaid TG (Tyler Gamble) (Hodge, Wei, Brelland)

Westwood AG def Woodlands AC (Abbey Chapman) (Conrad, Castillo, Popatia)

Finals

Westwood AG def Strake Jesuit ATo (Alberto Tohme) 2-1 (Baig, Sharma, Koshak*)

Champion

Westwood AG (Akhil Gandra)