Seawolf debaters dominate Davis Debates

On Dec. 1-2, twelve members of the Seawolf debate team traveled to the University of California Davis to compete in the Davis Debates. This year's event boasted 44 of the top teams from up and down the West Coast.

Over the course of six preliminary rounds and two elimination rounds, the debaters engaged one another on a diverse set of topics ranging from whether the West should reject Egypt's new constitution to whether unilateral climate engineering should be allowed to whether federal judges should be subject to Senate confirmation.

Following the preliminary rounds, the top eight two-person teams advanced to the semifinal round. Among those eight teams were three teams representing UAA. The teams of Amy Parrent & Matthew Fox, Brittany Bennett & Kelsey Waldorf and Matthew Stinson & Matthieu Ostrander advanced to the semifinal round to debate whether or not the West should reject Egypt's new constitution. A fourth UAA team, Jonathan Stinson & Bexley Brown, missed the break to elimination rounds by only a single preliminary point (out of the possible 18 tournament points).

After a superb showing in the semifinal, Parrent & Fox gained themselves a spot in the final round against two teams from the University of La Verne and one from Seattle University. One of the University of La Verne teams came in first while our Seawolves took home second-place honors.

Four Seawolves distinguished themselves by placing in the top 10 of more than 80 speakers in the tournament, once again demonstrating the depth of talent on our team: Parrent (second place speaker), Fox (third), Waldorf (fifth) and Bennett (ninth).

The team is now preparing for its final and most challenging competition of the fall semester: the World Universities Debating Championships, to be held in Berlin at the end of December. Upon their return, we are looking forward to hosting the Seventh Annual Cabin Fever Debates, UAA's intramural tournament for students not actively involved in the competitive debate team.

For more information, please visit the team's website or contact Steve Johnson, (907) 786-4391, or Amie Stanley, (907) 786-4354.