On November 15-18 the GMU Debate Team traveled to Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Varsity debaters competed in an invitation only tournament at Wake Forest University against the top 80 varsity teams in the country, besting teams from Michigan State University, Harvard, University of Kentucky, Northwestern, Wyoming and the University Southern California. Varsity debaters, Kyle Lastovica & Young Kwon made elimination rounds, advancing to the double octo-final round, placing them amongst the top 32 teams of the tournament.
While the varsity debaters competed at Wake Forest University, the junior varsity and novice debaters competed at a tournament hosted by Appalachian State University. Mason cleared all of their JV & novice debaters into elimination rounds! Novice debaters Rich Kaye, Tyler Wiseman, Austin Oliver & Nouran Ghanem were all ranked among the top 8 of the tournament in the novice division. Paula Kostiuk, Lizbett Mendoza, Sean Hoey & Lincoln Upton were all ranked among the top 4 of the tournament in the JV division. Lizbett was also awarded the 6th place individual speaker award, while her partner Paula Kostiuk was named top speaker!
The team’s competition season has ended for the fall semester, after a very successful first half of the season the team has managed to hold onto their #1 national ranking! Mason debate will continue to work hard over the holiday break and return to competition in January with hopes of maintaining their 1st place rank.
December 04, 2013
