With only three members of its team, Hillsdale took second place in overall sweeps at Marshall University in West Virginia.
Despite being outnumbered, the team maintained a winning record of 6-3 against Western Kentucky University, the first place team in the tournament. Along with their award in overall sweeps, Senior Bryan Brooks made it to the semifinals and received fifth speaker award. Junior Lauren Holt made it to the quarterfinals and received third speaker award.
“This was the first tournament where Western Kentucky was fully prepared for every argument we ran,” Brooks said. “Because they controlled most of the field, Lauren and I faced Western Kentucky debaters almost every round.”
In a field of about 20 debaters, the Hillsdale team lost predominantly because they were outnumbered, Brooks said.
“This shows that Western Kentucky only wins tournaments because they have so many debaters,” Brooks said. “But the education and training at Hillsdale College makes us very well prepared to face teams such as Western Kentucky head to head.”
The team not only did well in the tournament, but had fun outside of the debates. Holt said the team is developing relationships with the other teams on the debate circuit.
Even so, Holt said the Hillsdale team is ready for a break this weekend.
“We’ve been traveling for the last four out of five [events],” she said.
Part of the team will be heading to Bowling Green State University for their next tournament on Nov. 10 and 11.
