KU Debate teams excel at Kentucky tournaments
LAWRENCE — Multiple University of Kansas Debate teams placed in the top five at a pair of tournaments hosted by the University of Kentucky this past week.
The team of Owen Owings, Lee’s Summit, Missouri, with Max Ulven, St. Paul, Minnesota, finished in second place at the “Run for the Roses” round-robin invitational for seven of the top teams in the country during the Sept. 23-24 event.
The team of Kate’Lynn Shaw, Chicago, with Nargis Suleman, Leawood, took third place at a major national tournament hosted by Kentucky involving 125 teams Sept. 27-29.
The KU duos of Owings/Ulven and Carson Bath, Topeka, with Nate Boyle, St. Louis, tied for fifth place at the tournament.
At the “Run for the Roses” event, Owings and Ulven defeated Dartmouth College, the University of Michigan, Michigan State University and the University of Kentucky while losing debates to Emory University and California State University-Long Beach. Emory University finished first, KU finished second, and the University of Michigan finished third at the invitational. Ulven was the fourth-place individual speaker, and Owings was sixth.
After the round robin, Kentucky hosted a major open tournament with 125 teams. Schools competing in the tournament included Baylor, the University of California-Berkeley, Central Oklahoma, CSU Long Beach, Dartmouth, Emory, George Mason, Georgetown, Georgia, Gonzaga, Harvard, Houston, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Liberty, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Missouri State, Navy, Northwestern, Oklahoma, the University of Southern California, Wake Forest, West Georgia, Western Kentucky, Wichita State and Wyoming.
After two days of competition, four KU teams qualified for the top 32 single-elimination bracket. Owings and Ulven qualified as the fourth seed with a record of 5-1. They defeated Harvard University in the round of 32 and the University of Southern California in the round of 16 before losing a split decision to Dartmouth College in the quarterfinals. Ulven was the ninth individual speaker at the tournament, and Owings was 10th.
The team of Shaw and Suleman qualified for the elimination rounds with a 4-2 record as the 17th seed. They defeated CSU Long Beach in the round of 32 and upset the top seed from the University of Michigan in the round of 16. They closed out a quarterfinal debate with the KU team of Bath and Boyle before dropping to Dartmouth College in the semifinals.
The team of Bath/Boyle qualified for elimination rounds with a 4-2 record as the 24th seed. They defeated the No. 9 seed from the University of Kentucky in the round of 32 and the No. 8 seed from Northwestern University to close out a quarterfinal debate with Shaw/Suleman with the higher-seeded team advancing.
A fourth KU team, Claire Ain, Overland Park, with Henry Walawender, Lenexa, also qualified for the elimination rounds as the No. 23 seed with a 4-2 record. They lost to the University of Texas-Dallas in the first elimination round.
A fifth KU team, Connor Brown, Lawrence with Iman Suleman, Leawood, were also 4-2 in preliminary rounds but just missed qualifying for the elimination rounds finishing in 35th place.
Early season performances
The KU debate program is now three weeks into the season and has demonstrated its depth with 20 different debaters qualifying for the single-elimination rounds in the first three tournaments of the season.
The season began Sept. 12-14 with a major national tournament hosted by Northwestern University. The teams of Owings and Ulven and Shaw and Suleman each had top-10 finishes while the teams of Ain and Walawender and Chase Blaser, Lawrence, with Gilead Falin, Lawrence, also qualified for the single-elimination rounds.
KU Debate took five teams to a tournament Sept. 18-20 hosted by Missouri State University, and the teams combined for a record of 33 wins and 8 losses with all five teams advancing to the elimination rounds. Two of the teams reached the semifinals, and three advanced to the quarterfinals.
The teams of Cameron Williams, Manhattan, with Shruti Parthasarathy, Overland Park, and Sigmund Persson, Boulder, Colorado, with Cameron Linde, Overland Park, each tied for third place at the tournament.
The three pairs of Dawson Dittmar, Austin, Texas, with Kamran Shah, Aurora, Colorado, and Aryan Verma, Topeka, with Ewa Adedipe, Lawrence, and Joel Jijo, Topeka, with Ishaan Home, Overland Park, tied for fifth place at the tournament.
“We are very pleased with the start to the season and are excited at the prospects of where the squad may go as the year progresses,” said Brett Bricker, KU head debate coach. “There is a long season ahead of us, but we have a very talented group of hard-working students.”