“This is my last debate tournament ever,” he said. “It’s nice to know we are both going out on top.”

But even before the tournament started, Harvard was on top.

With 13 HSPDS students qualifying for the national tournament, Harvard set the record for most participants from any school in any year.

Last year, 11 Harvard students qualified for APDA, which draws members from 40 colleges and universities and includes every Ivy League school.

Cornell said in comparison to past years, competition was particularly tight.

“There were a lot of strong teams but no dominant teams, which made for exciting rounds,” he said.

President Scott M. Lichtenstein ’06 added that the tournament was “stressful,” with many Harvard teams starting off slowly.

“We definitely had a lot of last minute wins,” he said, attributing this year’s tremendous successes to the talented members.

“We have a lot of depth of skill. This year we had a very strong class,” he said.

In addition to the winning team, one other Harvard team—David V. Kimel ’05 and Richard J. Powell ’05—advanced beyond the preliminary round.

Last weekend’s victory was only one in a series for this year’s team.

HSPDS had top finishes in the APDA’s cumulative Team of the Year rankings.

Former team president Alexander J. Blenkinsopp ’05, who is also a Crimson editor, and Alex Potapov ’05 finished in 7th place, and Cornell and Roth placed 9th.

Earlier this year, Roth and Kimel finished 3rd at the North American Debate Championships.

—Staff writer Faryl W. Ury can be reached at ury@fas.harvard.edu.