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Editors: Note students from Lawrence, Lenexa, Olathe, Overland Park, Pittsburg, Prairie Village and Topeka.
Contact: Scott Harris, KU Debate, 785-864-9878, [email protected], @KansasDebate
KU Debate opens 2025 with 2 tournament wins
LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas Debate program opened the new year with a bang by winning two college tournaments Jan. 3-6. The KU team of John Marshall, Lawrence, and Graham Revare, Prairie Village, won a tournament hosted by Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., while the team of Claire Ain, Overland Park, and Jared Spiers, Pittsburg, won a tournament hosted by KU in Lawrence.
KU sent four teams to the tournament at Georgetown University to compete in a field involving teams from Binghamton University, California State University-Fullerton, Cornell University, California State University-Long Beach, Dartmouth College, Emory University, Georgetown University, Gonzaga University, Harvard University, the University of Iowa, James Madison University, the University of Kentucky, Macalester College, the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, the University of Minnesota, Northwestern University, New York University, Southern Nazarene University, the University of Texas, the University of California-Berkeley, Wake Forest University and the University of West Georgia. After two days of debating, all four KU teams compiled winning records and qualified for the single elimination debates.
KU’s top duo of Marshall and Revare qualified for the elimination rounds with a 6-1 record in the preliminary debates. Marshall was the first-place individual speaker at the tournament, and Revare was the fifth-place speaker. In the elimination rounds they advanced over another KU team in the round of 32, defeated NYU in the round of 16, Wake Forest in the quarterfinals, Michigan State in the semifinals and Emory in the finals. The pair ran their record on the season to 55-9 and are the top ranked team in the country.
The KU team of Luna Schultz, Houston, and Rose Larson, Milwaukee, qualified for the elimination rounds with a 5-2 record. They defeated Harvard in the first elimination round before falling to the 4th-seeded team from Northwestern University in the round of 16.
The KU team of Zach Willingham, Topeka, and Owen Williams, Lee’s Summit, Missouri, qualified for the elimination rounds with a 4-3 record but were matched up against the KU team of Marshall and Revare, and the higher seeded pair advanced. The KU team of Ethan Harris and Jacob Wilkus, both of Lawrence, also qualified for the elimination rounds with a 4-3 record but were knocked out of the tournament by the 2nd-seeded team from Dartmouth.
The same weekend KU was also hosting a tournament in the ice and snow in Lawrence. Schools competing at the KU tournament included Baylor University, the University of Houston, the University of Iowa, Kansas State University, Kansas City Kansas Community College, Missouri State University, the University of Nebraska, the University of Oklahoma, Trinity University, the University of Texas-San Antonio and the University of Wyoming. KU demonstrated its depth of talent as four additional KU teams advanced to the single elimination rounds at the tournament.
The KU duo of Ain and Spiers went undefeated at the tournament and advanced to the final round where they defeated a team from the University of Houston to win the tournament. The KU team of Carson Bath, Topeka, and AJ Persinger, Lawrence, qualified for the elimination rounds with a 5-1 record and defeated Kansas State University in the quarterfinals to advance to the semifinals where they were paired against the KU team of Ain and Spiers, and the higher-seeded KU pair advanced. The KU team of Connor Brown, Lawrence, and Henry Walawender, Lenexa, advanced to the elimination rounds with a 4-2 record. They defeated a team from Houston in the quarterfinals to reach the semis where they lost to the top team from the University of Houston. The KU team of Nate Boyle, St. Louis, and Averi Harker, Olathe, also advanced to elimination rounds with a 4-2 record. They defeated the University of Oklahoma in the first elimination round but met the higher seeded KU team of Ain and Spiers in the quarterfinals.
In addition to winning the tournament, KU placed three teams in the semifinals and a fourth team in the quarterfinals. KU debaters also won several individual speaker awards as Spiers finished fourth, Brown ninth, Bath 10th, Persinger 12th and Walawender 13th.
“This was a tremendous weekend for KU debate as the entire squad demonstrated their ability and commitment,” said Brett Bricker, KU head debate coach. “We are very proud of the entire team and coaching staff for their efforts that produced these results.”
Scott Harris, David B. Pittaway Director of KU Debate, said, “It is no small task to host a tournament in a blizzard while traveling teams on the same weekend to a snowed-in Washington, D.C. We are grateful for all of the teams who braved the weather to come to Lawrence, for the hard work of the coaching staff to host, judge and coach at two tournaments simultaneously, and to our alumni and the university who provide the support that allow KU Debate to continue to represent the University of Kansas with pride and distinction.”
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Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, director of news and media relations, [email protected]
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