Matthew Meyers and Colin Williams became best friends over a semantic argument about the word “homicide” in a freshman history class.
Three years later, the wiry-thin, floppy-haired seniors at Sprague High School in Salem, Ore., remained inseparable when they competed as a pair in Constitution Team, a debate-style contest where teams answer questions about constitutional law.
In January, they won second place at the state-level competition, earning themselves a spot at the national finals.
Occasionally, an undersize team of nine to 15 students reaches nationals, where the average team size is 21 students. But a team of two had never made it, much less won, according to the Center for Civic Education, which organizes the event, formally known as “We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution National Finals.”
It would be like a baseball team winning a game with four players.
And yet, for four magical days, Mr. Williams and Mr. Meyers basked in the glow of that improbable achievement.
On Friday night, after three days of dazzling the judges with their answers to penetrating questions about the Articles of Confederation and obscure Supreme Court decisions, the young men sat at the award ceremony with tempered expectations.
They hoped for seventh place. When their names still had not been called as the fifth-, fourth- and third-place finishers were announced, they wondered if there had been a mistake.
When the two were handed their championship medals, the hall erupted.
“They are gods tonight,” a rival team’s coach said.
But on Monday, the head coach of the third-place team was reviewing the score sheet from the event when he saw that something didn’t add up.
The Road to Nationals
On a brisk February evening, in a windowless classroom, Mr. Williams and Mr. Meyers, both 18, began preparing for nationals. Unable to out-memorize the much-larger teams they would face, the two were delved deeper into the philosophies underpinning the Constitution.
“We didn’t really have a huge evidence base,” Mr. Williams said. “But what we did have was a really strong conceptual understanding.”
For instance, they argued over a Supreme Court decision that upheld an Oregon city’s ban on sleeping and camping in public spaces that critics said effectively punished people for being homeless.
“If a burglar broke into someone’s house because they were hungry,” Mr. Williams asked, “does punishing them for that violate the Eighth Amendment?”
No, the hungry burglar could be punished, Mr. Meyers said. He paused and then added, “Get ready to hear a really, really, really stupid response.” According to a theory from the philosopher John Locke, he said, it would be less wrong if the thief stole from a grocery store than someone’s house.
On their way up the competition ladder, their insight about the nation’s founding documents made an impression.
“My mind was kind of blown,” said Darin Sands, a lawyer and national champion coach who judged the pair at the Oregon state competition. “It was just clear that they had not only studied the material but engaged with it in a very deep level.”
A Convincing Performance
On April 9, the first day of the national competition at the National Conference Center in Lansdowne, Va., the teenagers were being grilled by judges when something unusual happened.
“I just forgot my train of thought,” Mr. Meyers said. “I just knew we were talking about something related to judicial supremacy.”
He asked the judge to repeat the question — a rare slip. To be among the 10 teams to advance to the final round on Friday, Mr. Williams and Mr. Meyers needed a flawless Thursday.
They delivered a convincing performance, and word quickly spread. “I can’t wait, we’ve heard so much about you,” a judge said before questioning the two.
That the duo made it to the state-level competition was a huge accomplishment. Going to nationals? Unheard-of. And when they clinched a spot in the Top 10? Well, that made them legends. People even lined up to take their photograph.
The final round on Friday in the National Union Building in Washington, D.C., brought the toughest, most combative line of questioning. Early in the day, one judge found a gap in their knowledge.
“They were asked about a specific court case that the boys did not know,” said Jacqueline Pope Brothers, their coach and a social studies teacher at their high school. “That kind of shook them.”
But the stumble only sharpened their focus.
Sean McClelland, a judge who said he was “philosophically opposed to giving out perfect scores,” asked them whether judges find or make laws. The boys delivered an esoteric and deeply informed answer that earned them Mr. McClelland’s only perfect score.
At the award ceremony that night, they watched as fourth place went to Denver East High School in Colorado and third place went to Lincoln High School in Portland, Ore. Fishers High School in Indiana took second.
With championship medals draped around their necks, the boys savored a standing ovation from hundreds of admiring students and coaches.
Finding an Error
On Monday, Patrick Magee-Jenks, a social studies teacher and the head coach of the Lincoln High School team, was reviewing the scorecards when he noticed that Lincoln had been awarded 15 fewer points than it should have received.
On Wednesday, the organizers announced that, after “a thorough audit,” mistakes had been discovered on Lincoln and Denver East’s scorecards. In issuing an apology to the students and teachers, the Center for Civic Education said that Sprague and Lincoln — the two Oregon schools — would share first place. The Colorado and Indiana schools would share second place.
Mr. Magee-Jenks said in phone interview on Wednesday that he “felt really bad” for the Center for Civic Education but added that he was pleased with the fix. “Overall, the big winner is the state of Oregon,” he said.
As Mr. Williams drove to school on Wednesday morning, he seemed unbothered by the scoring change, and perhaps even a little upbeat about it.
“It’s really cool to be able to be co-champions with Lincoln,” he said.
Long before nationals, Mr. Meyers had joked with rivals from the competing Oregon school about a fairy tale finish that seemed impossible: What if two Oregon schools tied for first?
Hank Sanders is a Times reporter and a member of the 2024-25 Times Fellowship class, a program for journalists early in their careers.
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