2007-2008 Season Kicks Off

K-State Debate started the season this past weekend at the Universty of Northern Iowa. I the largest ever Kansas State Contingent to travel to a debate tournament, 12 teams and 7 coaches made the trek to Waterloo/Cedar Falls Iowa to compete in this mid west season opener. The logistics of travel with 31 people is definitely difficult but went off without any major snags this weekend.

1 team entered in the novice division. Chelsea and Ian, both juniors at KSU decided that with no prior debate experience they would join the debate team. They had two practice debates prior to the tournament and attended several training sessions. At KSU we promote and encourage those with no prior debte experience of any kind to join our team as novices. Little did the coaches know that every other school at the tournament interpreted novice to mean those with 4 years of LD debate experience. Ian and Chelsea had a tough weekend, but returned home committed to continuing their mission to debate. More training will ensue before this team heads out to Missouri State for our next tournament.

6 Teams entered in the JV division, 4 of which were competing at their first EVER college debate tournament. For some, the road was rough, in the end two teams, John Grice & Molly McGuire along with Drew Cummings & Heather Woods cleared to elimination rounds. For Molly, a first year debater who debated in Wisconsin in high school, this was the first time she had ever made it t elimination rounds ad she was very excited to be 5-3. John was the 3rd speaker in the division. Heather and Drew were novice debaters last year, in fact Heather only competed at 4 tournaments last year. In their first ever JV showing they were 5-3 and cleared. Drew was the 5th speaker in JV. Both teams advanced without debating from the partial octofinal round to the quarterfinal round.

5 teams were entered in the Varsity (Open) division. 4 of these teams learned that there is more work to be done in order to compete successfully in this division. One team, Kyle Zarazan and Beth Mendenhall were 6-2 in prelims and cleared as the 6th seed. Kyle & Beth advanced without debating in the partial double octafinals to the octafinals. In Octa's they defeated Missouri State on a 2-1 decision. In the quarterfinal round they debated Wichita state and lost on a 3-0. In the decision, two of the judges gave our team a nice pick-me-up when they indicated that Kyle's 2AC was "flawless" ad that they were glad to have brought their younger debaters to watch this particular debate because it was a perfect model for instructing younger 2AC's. Kyle & Beth were also just short of obtaining speaker awards. Kyle was the 19th speaker and Beth was the 11th speaker. Congrats team!

Even though, not every team advanced to elimination rounds, every debater woke up on Monday morning to watch rounds and scout for the team. In several instances throughout the tournament the teams that did not clear provided crucial scouting information that enabled us to obtain more victories emphasizing the extent to which the whole squad contributes to the success of individual teams. Every individual is an important part of our success.

If this tournament is any indication, K-State Debate has a great season ahead. Upon our return home, each team has indicated a renewed commitment to working hard to prepare for tournaments and if experience tells us anything, it will pay off.