Debate sweeps tournament

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The Hillsdale College Debate Team swept the tournament Nov. 10 and 11 at Bowling Green University, taking first place in every event, including Overall Sweepstakes on the second day.

Along with winning the Overall Sweepstakes, senior Bryan Brooks and junior Lauren Holt won Parliamentary on the first day; junior Harris Wells won Lincoln-Douglas; Freshmen Bri Hearn and Kevin Ambrose made it to the semi-finals in Parliamentary; and senior Andrew Dykstal won the Individual Parliamentary event.

On Saturday, Hillsdale’s three Parliamentary teams faced their in-region rivals, Grove City College, in an event that Grove City has dominated for years.

“All of our teams performed very well against them,” Brooks said, “and Lauren and I were able to take down Grove City, who is the regional champion of Pi Kappa Delta debate.”

The tournament also proved the value and mettle of the newer members of the team, Hearn said.

“This is Kevin and my second time debating Parliamentary style, and we are very happy with our improvement and progress and super happy about making it to semis,” Hearn said.

Hearn thanked and credited the team captains and the team’s coach, professor of speech Matthew Dogget, for the team’s performance.

This tournament has given much confidence to the team for the rest of the season, Ambrose said, especially looking forward to the spring Pi Kappa Delta Debate.

“Us making it to the semi-finals in the Parliamentary tournament is a really strong indicator for how we will be about to do at the Pi Kappa Delta tournament,” Ambrose said. “We are really looking forward to competing against national teams at the most important tournament of the year.”

The team will be heading to Ohio for two back-to-back swing tournaments at Ohio State University and Otterbein University on Nov. 30 and 31, respectively.