Edmond, OK – (November 9^th, 2021) The University of Central Oklahoma debate team hosted their annual debate tournament on the weekend of November 5-7. This year’s debate tournament featured fifty competitors from fourteen different colleges and universities. Undergraduate students competed across two divisions based on experience levels Novice, and Open.

The event featured six preliminary rounds of competition, where students argued on both sides, on the topic “Resolved: The United States Federal Government should substantially increase prohibitions on anticompetitive business practices by the private sector by at least expanding the scope of its core antitrust laws”. Followed by a single elimination tournament where the top eight Open, top three Novice teams advanced based on the results from the preliminary rounds.

The Novice division showcased competitors with little to no experience in debate and cleared to a partial Semifinals featuring teams from St. Mary’s College and the University of Texas – San Antonio. The Final Round saw a closeout between top seeded Autumn Adeyan & Katherine Trevino-Yoson and third seeded Demetri Papageorge & Ojaswi Sharma from St. Mary’s College. In addition to winning the tournament Autumn Adeyan was recognized as the Top Speaker of the Division.

The Open division is the highest level of competition in CEDA debate cleared to a Quarterfinals featuring teams from Johnson County Community College, Missouri State University, the University of Central Oklahoma, the University of Kansas, the University of Texas, and Wichita State University. The Final Round saw a 2-1 victory for Alec Hinecker & Bobby Phillips from Wichita State over Thomas Babcock & Travis Babcock from Johnson County. Zach Huffman from Central Oklahoma was recognized as the Top Speaker of the Division.

The tournament marked the eighth weekend of the competitive season and provided an opportunity for a total of over five thousand minutes of speaking time for undergraduate students. Students engaged in a minimum of three debates in favor of the resolution and three opposed, requiring them to test their hours of research and preparation on both sides of the topic. The format enables students to build skills in critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity.

About
CEDA

Cross Examination Debate Association was founded in 1971. CEDA is currently responsible for formulating the annual intercollegiate policy debate topic used in tournament competition throughout the nation. Throughout the season, CEDA calculates National Sweepstakes Standings, the national and regional rankings of member institutions based on compiled tournament results.