Laramie, WY – (Dec 23^rd, 2021) The University of Wyoming Debate Team their third annual virtual debate tournament on the weekend of December 3-5. The tournament provided an opportunity for eighty-four competitors from fifteen states the opportunity to compete in two divisions of debate, Novice and Varsity with a final round breakout from the Varsity division for Junior Varsity eligible competitors.

The tournament 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 thirteen Open, top two Junior Varsity, and top nine Novice teams advanced based on the results from the preliminary rounds.

The Novice division showcased competitors with little to no experience in debate and held a partial Octafinal round featuring teams from Boston College, George Mason University, James Madison University, Monmouth University, New York University, and the University of Texas San Antonio. The Final Round saw a lockout between second seeded Nick Clement & Roy Rinehart and fifth seeded Jenna Wright & Matthew Dim from James Madison. Anchita Aurora from New York University was recognized as the Top Speaker of the Division

The Junior Varsity division was combined with the Open division but saw a final round breakout between eligible competitors with limited experience. The Final Round saw a 3-0 victory for Nate Garcia & Mackenzie Wiessner from California State University Fullerton over Luigi Auquilla & Dhruv Mittur from New York University.

The Open division is the highest level of competition in CEDA debate and cleared to a partial Octafinals featuring teams from Arizona State University, California State University Fullerton, George Mason University, New York University, the University of Minnesota, the University of Texas Dallas, the University of Wyoming, Wayne State University, and Western Washington University. The Final Round saw a 3-0 victory for Vontrez White & Brayan Loayza from Cal State Fullerton over Lorilei Lassen & Kiana Radcliffe from the University of Wyoming. In addition to being tournament Champion, Vontrez White from Cal State Fullerton was named Top Speaker of the Division.

The tournament marked the final weekend of the Fall competitive season and provided a total of ten 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.