Hillsdale won debate sweepstakes at Webster University’s Gorlok Gala on Jan. 26-28, overtaking all other colleges by a vast margin.
“Debate sweepstakes is like the presidential election: if someone wins by much more than five points, it’s crazy and a blowout,” Coach Matthew Doggett said. “We won by 40 points.”
Team manager and senior Duncan Voyles said the team performed “brilliantly.”
“This group knows how to have fun, persevere, and do well,” he said.
Freshman Erin Reichard won first place debater and third place speaker in the novice division of Lincoln Douglas Policy Debate and also won third best speaker.
“It was pretty intense,” Reichard said, “but I really enjoyed figuring out how to improve my performance over the course of the tournament, particularly the final round.”
Reichard argued that the federal government needed to stop police from seizing property without reason.
Freshman Caleb Lambrecht was a semifinalist debater and won first place speaker in the novice division of LD.
Voyles and sophomore Henrey Deese were semi-finalists in the open division of Parliamentary Debate. They both agreed their favorite round was one where they argued about whether China or Russia is a bigger threat to U.S. interests abroad.
Lambrecht and freshman Amelia Rasmusen were quarter-finalists in the novice division of Parliamentary Debate, where Rasmusen won first place speaker. Reichard won second place novice speaker.
“I had done pretty poorly at the last two tournaments I attended, and I was expecting to maybe break even, but Caleb and I won all five preliminary rounds and made semifinals,” Rasmusen said.
She said it was fun to discover how well they balanced each other.
“He’s 6’6” and I’m 5’5”. He smacks the podium and dives right in, while I smile at the room and thank everyone. I think the judges really liked our style.”
Deese said he thought the team performed really well.
“I thought that the younger members stepped up and improve. We put in the work, and we performed.”
