Washburn University Debate Team Continues to Achieve Success; Freshmen Debaters Bring Home Top Honors from Recent Tournament

     Topeka, Kan. – The Washburn University debate team continues to achieve success this season as two of their freshmen debaters bring home top honors from the Oct. 13-15 DeMougeot Debates at the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas. Wendo Kimori and Jyaira Ware earned first and second place in the novice debate category and were recognized as the top two individual speakers in the novice ranks.

     In varsity competition, Andrew Rea (senior) and Cade Blendan (junior) both finished as quarterfinalists (elite 8), and Logan Michael (senior) ended up as an octafinalist (sweet 16). Rea, Blendan and Michael were also recognized as the eighth, ninth and tenth best individual speakers at the tournament.   

     In junior varsity competition, Braxton Kindel (sophomore) finished as a quarterfinalist (elite 8).  Kindel was also recognized as the second-best individual speaker amongst the junior varsity debaters, while teammate Alfonso Rascon (freshman) was recognized as the sixth best individual speaker.

     Daniel Archer (senior), Jacob Bailes (junior), Ethan Soto (freshman) and Hunter Squires (junior) also participated in this tournament, including helping their teammates with research.

     “Washburn debaters continue to be top contenders this season,” said Dr. Kevin O’Leary, director of debate and senior lecturer for communication studies for Washburn University. “Our debaters are going in prepared and, most importantly, our debaters are a team that continually communicate the trends they see in competition and support each other through peer-to-peer coaching and research.”

     Alumni Kaitlyn Bull (’17), Aly Fiebrantz Asware (’11), Matt Parnell (’18) and Emily Unruh (’21), along with current graduate assistant in the Washburn University master of arts in communication and leadership program, Jenna Gorton (’23), joined the team to help coach debaters this weekend.

    Other competitors represented the following universities: California State University Northridge, Fullerton College, Illinois State University, John Carroll University, Kansas Wesleyan University, Texas State University, Texas Tech University, Truman State University, University of Nebraska Lincoln, University of North Texas, Western Kentucky University and Wichita State University.

     O’Leary and Steve Doubledee, assistant director of debate and senior lecturer for communication studies for Washburn University, are the debate coaches for Washburn University. The Washburn University debate program focuses on Lincoln-Douglas, or LD, debate format. LD is a debate format that follows the basic time schedule 6 - 3 - 7 - 3 - 4 - 6 - 3. Each debater gets 13 minutes of total speaking time, and three minutes of question time. The rounds take approximately 45 minutes in total. Each debater receives four to five minutes of preparation time to use between speeches however they like.

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