Highland Park's go-to debaters

To the ordinary world, Juan Garcia and Nat Olson are known simply as one of the top pairs of debaters for St. Paul Highland Park High School. But inside forensic circles, where their verbal speed, analytical skill and mental dexterity have become highly regarded and continuously rewarded, they are Team GO.

The "G" and the "O" are the first letters of their last names. But the moniker could as easily mean "Going for more trophies" or "Going for the state championship," which begins Friday at Rosemount High School.

The Highland Park students have not only become two of the top debaters in Minnesota, but with their hard work and on-the-road success at national-level tournaments, they stand a good chance at placing among the nation's best as well. Their coach, Sheila Peterson, said they are among the top 10 policy debate teams in the country.

The seniors were 15th in the nation last year.

"They are verbally astute, they have a great vocabulary and they work really hard," Peterson said Monday night, as the Highland Park teams prepared for the state meet. "And they're adaptable. They can shift gears. And that's really critical to debate -- adapting to judges and adapting to different teams."

Olson sums up their success more succinctly. "We talk really fast."

But policy debate isn't just about being persuasive or a smooth talker. Good debaters do extensive research into the year's topic -- this year's is whether the U.S. should substantially increase its public health assistance to sub-Saharan Africa -- and prepare convincing policy and philosophical arguments on both sides of an issue.

The best teams travel extensively to national tournaments and, every summer, attend debate camps at top colleges and universities that can last up to seven weeks. In fact, Peterson said, those summer camps are where a lot of the groundwork for the season is laid. The Highland Park teams went to debate camp at the University of Michigan last summer.

"It's a game," Olson said of debate. "A lot of people think that just because they're a good public speaker and smart, they'll be good at it."

Said Peterson: "It's like a verbal game of chess. It's highly strategic."

Consider Garcia and Olson the possible Garry Kasparov and Bobby Fischer of the debate world.

They have qualified for both the National Forensics League national tournament in February and the 65-team Tournament of Champions, to be held at the University of Kentucky in May. They won an invitation to the Tournament of Champions last year, as well.

All that work will soon pay off in another way, too. Both 17-year-olds have been offered scholarships to debate in college.

With so much emphasis on national tournaments, Team GO insists it is not overlooking the state meet. Both of Highland Park's varsity pairs -- Michael Lando and Jillian Jordan make up the other duo -- made the state quarterfinals last year. Tamar Kaplan is the other varsity debater.

"State is a big deal," Garcia said. "All of us are working really hard. We all want to do well at it."

In fact, said Olson, he's bought a 12-pack of Red Bull -- an energy drink, for you non-teenagers -- in preparation for the two-day state meet.

Peterson said the team is hard at it, practicing about three days a week all season with one- or two-day tournaments nearly every weekend. The stakes are high.

Well, not to a Minnesota team. Olson said they lost a debate to a Utah team at a recent national-level tournament at Blake High School in Minneapolis.

"I have a nightmare about losing to them at state," Olson said, to chuckles from his coach and teammates. (Um, Utah doesn't compete at the Minnesota state meet.)

"It is kind of scary, though," Olson said.