By: Kelly Ryan
Saturday and Sunday the PLU Speech and Debate Team competed at the annual Hatfield Debates at Willamette University in preparation for upcoming national championships.
Willamette’s tournament is perceived by most collegiate debate teams as the pre-national championship tournament. Because it is the last tournament before the national championships this tournament has an unusually competitive draw.
At the end of the first day of competition senior Kelly Ryan and sophomore Bryce Danz held an accomplished record of 5-1. Ryan and Danz impressed their fellow Lutes and other teams when they defeated the defending national champions from Southern Illinois University on development of a UN standing military topic.
Ryan and Danz continued their success in elimination rounds when they defeated a team from the University of Oregon on a topic about NATO and a team from Western Washington University on a U.S. education resolution.
The Lutes’ winning came to an end when they lost their semifinals round on U.S. Forest Service reform against Willamette, ranked second in the nation.
Ryan and Danz received third place out of 42 teams.
Senior Nicolette Paso paired with a debater from Beijing Foreign Studies University in British Parliamentary (BP) style. The pair took fifth place at the tournament and Paso received a top speaker award.
The team will send four debaters, two teams, to compete at the National Parliamentary Debate Association (NPDA) Tournament held at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, Cali. at the end of March.
In April the team will send competitors to the U.S. Universities British Parliamentary Debate National Championship in Vermont.
