While the debate team did not take Western Kentucky University by storm as they did last year, the team saw improvement from the first tournament of the year. The team expects this first Lincoln-Douglas style debate to prepare it for upcoming tournaments this semester.
“The team did fairly well,” senior Bryan Brooks said.“It was a little disappointing because this was a tournament we won last year; however, we knew it would be difficult to make a repeat performance because of our team’s inexperience.”
In the varsity parliamentary speaker standings, junior Lauren Holt took fifth place and Brooks fourth. Junior Harris Wells, a newer member of the team, was second place in the novice Lincoln-Douglas debate.
“I was a little sad not to break in the Lincoln-Douglas debates this year, but I was happy to receive fourth place in the speaker awards,” Holt said.
The team is constantly crippled by its small size and general inexperience, Brooks said, but the incoming students, especially the freshmen who will soon be joining the team as scholarship students, and joining the Pi Kappa Delta speech and debate honorary, which has its own exclusive debate.
“Because of our small size and inexperience, we found ourselves very unprepared to face the much larger teams, with much more experience,” Brooks said. “Everyone persevered and adapted to the challenges, and proved we have the character to bring the program to new heights in the future.”
On Oct. 5 and 6, the debate team will be competing in the Lafayette Ocho at Lafayette College in Easton, Pa.
