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Editors: Note students from Lawrence, Leawood, Olathe, Overland Park, Shawnee, Stilwell, Topeka and from Lee’s Summit, Missouri.
Contact: Scott Harris, KU Debate, 785-864-9878, [email protected]
KU Debate excels at 3 tournaments in 1 weekend
LAWRENCE — KU Debate had an outstanding weekend Oct. 31-Nov. 3 as University of Kansas debaters excelled at three different tournaments across the country at tournaments hosted by Gonzaga University, the University of Oklahoma and the University of Alaska.
Gonzaga University tournament
KU’s top policy debate team finished in third place at a major national tournament at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. KU seniors Rose Larson, Milwaukee, and Luna Schultz, Houston, won 11 consecutive debates before dropping a 2-1 split decision to the University of Michigan in the semifinals of the tournament, a team they had defeated in the preliminary rounds the day before. The pair moved their record on the season to 35 wins and 4 losses.
They were a perfect 8-0 in the preliminary rounds, with wins over five of the top 10 teams in the country, to qualify for the elimination rounds as the top seed. Seven of the eight teams they debated in the prelims qualified for the elimination rounds at the tournament. They reeled off wins over the University of Texas-Dallas, UC-Berkeley, Northwestern University, two teams from the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, the defending national champions from Binghamton University and Georgetown University. In the elimination rounds they first defeated the University of Kentucky, then advanced over another KU team in the octafinals and beat a team from the University of Michigan in the quarterfinals before their streak ended with the loss to Michigan’s top team in the semifinals. Michigan would defeat Georgetown in the finals to win the tournament.
Three other KU teams finished in the top 20 teams, qualifying for the elimination rounds as the 16th, 17th and 18th seeds. Kate’Lynn Shaw, Chicago, and Nargis Suleman, Leawood, were the 16th seed and advanced over teammates Brooklynn Hato, Overland Park, and A.J. Persinger, Lawrence, in the first elimination round before meeting the top-seeded KU team in the octafinals. Owen Owings, Lee’s Summit, and Zach Willingham, Topeka, were knocked out by the 15th seed from Michigan State in the first elimination debate.
Larson was the second-place individual speaker, Shultz was 12th, and Nargis Suleman was 18th.
Schools competing at the tournament included Arizona State University, Baylor University, Binghamton University, CSU Long Beach, Dartmouth College, Emory University, George Mason University, Georgetown University, the University of Georgia, Gonzaga University, Harvard University, the University of Iowa, the University of Kentucky, Liberty University, the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, the University of Minnesota, the Naval Academy, Northwestern University, Purdue University, the University of Southern California, Stanford University, the University of Texas, Trinity University, UC Berkeley, the University of Texas-Dallas, Wake Forest University, Wichita State University and the University of Wyoming.
University of Oklahoma policy debate tournament
While KU teams were competing in Spokane, Washington, several other KU teams were competing at a tournament in Norman, Oklahoma. The KU team of freshmen Kavinayashri Chidambaranathan, Topeka, and Iman Suleman, Leawood, won the championship at the University of Oklahoma policy debate tournament. The pair went a perfect 9-0 at the tournament, defeating the University of Houston in the finals of the tournament.
Four other KU teams qualified for the elimination rounds at the tournament. The teams of Tyler Bauman, Stilwell, with Sigmund Persson, Boulder, Colorado; Jaxson Terreros, Shawnee, with Quinn Smith, Springfield, Missouri, and Gilead Falin, Lawrence, with Harris Chaudhry, Topeka, all reached the quarterfinals of the tournament. The team of Grayson Webber, Colorado Springs, Colorado, with Cameron Linde, Overland Park, advanced to the octafinals of the tournament. Persson received the fourth-place individual speaker award, and Bauman was 10th.
Schools competing in the tournament included Baylor University, the University of Central Oklahoma, George Mason University, Houston University, Kansas State University, Liberty University, Missouri State University, the University of Oklahoma, Samford University, Southern Nazarene University and the University of Texas San Antonio.
British Parliamentary tournament
KU teams also had an excellent performance at a national British Parliamentary tournament hosted by the University of Alaska Anchorage. Four KU duos competed in the tournament, and all four teams qualified for the elimination rounds. The team of Joseph Higgins and Jack Turec, both from Olathe, won the championship in the novice elimination rounds for first year BP debaters. The team of Alba Wilson-Axpe, Greenwood Village, Colorado, with Sofia Bullard, Simi Valley, California, reached the semifinals of the tournament in the open division, and the team of Michael Redlich and Mason Renner, both from Kansas City, advanced to the quarterfinals. The team of Alex Brake, Olathe, and Isaac Martinez, Spearman, Texas, made the finals of the honors division.
Five KU debaters, all freshmen, won speaker awards at the tournament. Bullard was the overall fourth-place speaker at the tournament. In addition, speaker awards for first-year BP debaters went to Turec, first; Redlich, second; Renner, third, and Higgins, fifth.
Schools competing at the tournament included the University of Alaska, Ball State University, California Polytechnic State University, Claremont College, Clemson University, Denver University, the College of Idaho, Linfield University, Loyola Marymount University, Loyola Chicago University, Metropolitan State University of Denver, the University of Mississippi, Morehouse College, Red Rocks Community College, Randolph-Macon College, Seattle University, Tennessee Tech University, Texas Tech University, the U.S. Air Force Academy, the University of San Francisco, the University of Vermont, Vanderbilt University, Wheaton College and Willamette University.
“It was a remarkable achievement by the coaching staff to manage 38 students competing in three different locations and an amazing performance by the students themselves as 13 of the 19 teams competing qualified for elimination rounds at those tournaments,” said Scott Harris, the David B. Pittaway Director of Debate at the University of Kansas. “We are very proud of the hard work of every member of the squad that made it possible.”
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