West Point, NY – (October 12th, 2021) The United States Military Academy debate team hosted their annual debate tournament on the weekend of October 8-10. This year’s tournament featured forty-six competitors compete across two divisions of competition based on experience. The Novice division was open to students with little to no experience in intercollegiate debate and the Open division, which was open to undergraduate students with all levels of experience.

The event featured six preliminary rounds of competition 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 two Open teams along with the top nine Novice teams advanced to a single elimination bracket.

In the Open division the Final Round featured the undefeated team of Rachel Solsman & Addison Wagner from Liberty University and the 4-2 team of Temitope Ogundare & Christal St. Clair from Rutgers University, Newark face off for a rematch of their preliminary debate. Coming away with the coveted traveling trophy of a sword on a 2-1 decision was Rutger’s Temitope Ogundare & Christal St. Clair. Liberty University’s Addison Wagner was named the Top Speaker of the Open division.

In the Novice division, the Quarterfinals featured three teams from George Mason University and Liberty University and one team from Monmouth University and the United States Naval Academy. The Final Round saw a 2-1 victory for George Mason University’s Sam Bahamonde & Amanda Magpiong over Liberty University’s Abigail Iwanoff & Madilynn Richardson. Liberty University’s Abigail Iwanoff was named the Top Speaker of the Novice Division.

The two tournaments on the fourth weekend of the competitive season provided 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.