Seawolves display depth at Canada debate tournament

On Sept. 30-Oct. 2, the Seawolf Debate team traveled to the University of Victoria debating tournament in Victoria, British Columbia. The squad traveled 12 members, including new team members making their first tournament trip with the Seawolves: Andrew Kerosky (junior, Economics), Matthieu Ostrander (freshman, Political Science and International Relations) and Matt Fox (junior, Economics).

Over the course of seven rounds of competition, 48 debaters from across North America engaged one another on topics as diverse as whether or not the European Union should forgive the debts of Greece, whether we should prohibit minors from testifying in court and whether we should prioritize culture over international standards of human rights.

At the conclusion of five preliminary rounds, the top eight two-person teams advanced to the semifinal round. Of those, UAA teams comprised half the field with four out of eight semifinal teams. In seedings for the elimination rounds, Seawolf teams held the first, second, fourth and fifth seeds. Those teams were, respectively, Colin Haughey (senior, Philosophy) and Drew Cason (senior, Environment and Society); Amie Stanley (senior, Political Science) and Sarah Carpenter (senior, Culinary Arts); Wiley Cason (junior, Justice) and Brittany Bennett (junior, Natural Sciences and Environment and Society) and Fox and Kelsey Waldorf (junior, Justice).

From the semifinal round, the top four teams advanced to the final round. Again, UAA teams were well represented. Of the four finalist teams, three were from Alaska. In the end, Haughey/D. Cason, Stanley/Carpenter and Fox/Waldorf had to content themselves with finalist honors as a team from the University of British Columbia was named champion.

In addition to the team awards, the Seawolves also garnered individual recognition by sweeping the top three speaker awards: Haughey (top speaker), Carpenter (2nd speaker) and D. Cason (3rd speaker).  Rounding out the top 10 speakers were: Stanley (5th speaker), Fox (7th speaker and top novice speaker) and Waldorf (in a three-way tie for 8th speaker).

Next up, six Seawolves will travel to the University of Toronto for the Hart House IV, North America's most competitive intercollegiate debate tournament. For more information, please contact Steve Johnson at (907) 786-4391 or Shawn Briscoe at (907) 786-4354. You may also visit the team's website.