Mariah Steiger and Peter Jeffrey

The Windsor High School debate team has earned the school’s first #1 statewide ranking in parliamentary debate, according to the squad’s coach Bryan St. Amant.

In the latest round of competition the Jaguar combo of Mariah Steiger and Peter Jeffrey won the championship at the Dec. 4 Bishop O’Dowd High School tournament in Oakland. Steiger and Jeffrey defeated O’Dowd’s top varsity duo on the topic: “If given a choice, Jesus Christ would choose capitalism over communism.”

“Peter and Mariah spoke masterfully, quote the bible extensively and prevailed on a unanimous decision. Not bad for a public school on this particular subject,” St. Amant wrote in an email.

The first year team of Lily Foster and Scott Nicholson reached the final round but were defeated by a duo from Bishop O’Dowd.

Steiger and Jeffrey are currently ranked #1 in the state, according to St. Amant. The team of Jason Fauss and Jonathan Jeffrey won a competition in Stockton in October and are currently ranked #3 in the state, St. Amant said.

Up next is an invitational tournament in Union City Jan. 13-15 and a state tournament qualifying competition Jan. 21. Windsor will host their own tournament for as many as 200 high school debaters on Feb. 25.

For more information, go to www.whsdebate.com

 Readers might recall the name Peter Jeffrey. I wrote a teen profile on Jeffrey, his twin brother Jonathan and older sister Amy back in 2010. To read that story, click here: http://bit.ly/vWXakt