KU debaters take 3rd place at major national tournament

LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas Debate team of sophomores John Marshall, Lawrence, and Jiyoon Park, Topeka, took third place in a major national debate tournament Sept. 30-Oct. 2 hosted by the University of Kentucky. The pair lost a close 2-1 split decision to Georgetown University in the semifinals of the J.W. Patterson Debate Tournament. California State University, Long Beach, defeated Georgetown in the finals to win the tournament. The Long Beach Forensics program is directed by KU alumnus and former KU assistant coach Michael Eisenstadt.

Marshall and Park qualified for the 32-team single-elimination rounds as the 22nd seed by winning four of six debates in the preliminary rounds over two days of competition. In the preliminary rounds they defeated teams from the University of Michigan, Samford University, the University of Iowa and Wake Forest University. In the elimination rounds they defeated the 11 seed from Michigan, the 6 seed from Emory University and the 14 seed from the University of Wyoming to advance to the semifinal debate against the 2 seed from Georgetown.

Three additional KU teams qualified for the elimination round bracket with 4-2 records in the preliminary rounds. KU and Wake Forest were the only schools to have four teams advance to the elimination rounds.

The team of seniors Graham Revare, Shawnee, and Will Soper, Bucyrus, collected wins over Michigan State University, Wichita State University and two teams from the University of Minnesota and reached the elimination rounds as the 15th seed. They were knocked out of the tournament in the single-elimination rounds by George Mason University. Revare was the 16th-place individual speaker at the tournament, and Soper was 24th.

The team of junior Jacob Wilkus, Lawrence, and freshman Owen Williams, Lee’s Summit, Missouri, advanced to the elimination rounds as the 25th seed with wins over Wake Forest, Northwestern University and two teams from Michigan State. They lost to the 8 seed from Kentucky in the single elimination bracket.

The team of juniors Ethan Harris, Lawrence, and Jared Spiers, Pittsburg, notched wins over Wake Forest, the University of Georgia and two teams from Cornell College to advance to the elimination bracket as the 26th seed. They were knocked out of the tournament by the seventh seed from Dartmouth College.

“What I am most proud of is how the debaters all showed out for their teammates even after they were out of the tournament,” said Alaina Walberg, assistant coach. “The support John and Jiyoon had from the rest of the team during elimination rounds was just awesome to see and I think really speaks to the KU debate motto, ‘No one is done debating until everyone is done debating.’”

Scott Harris, the David B. Pittaway Director of Debate, said, “We are really proud of all of our teams that competed this weekend and grateful for the hard work of the assistant coaches that put them in a position to be successful.”