Seawolf Speakers take top honors at the U.S. Universities Debating Championships

The Seawolf Debate team demonstrated once again their depth and excellence at the recent U.S. Universities Debating Championships (USUDC), hosted by Regis University in Denver, Colorado on April 8-11. The USUDC is the nation's largest and most competitive tournament hosted in the British Parliamentary (BP) style. UAA entered eight two-person teams in the competition, half of which earned honors in the competition.

The UAA students faced tough competition from Stanford, Yale, Cornell and over 120 other teams from 40 schools on topics ranging from whether the U.S. should make aid to Israel contingent upon an agreement to stop building settlements in contested territories, to whether the federal government should adopt a constitutional amendment to prohibit deficit spending. At the end of the preliminary phase of the competition, the Alaska squad advanced four teams to the elimination rounds of the competition, more than any other school at the tournament.

The teams of Wiley Cason and Brett Frazer, Akis Gialopsos and Amie Stanley, Drew Cason and Sarah Carpenter and Colin Haughey and Michaela Hernandez qualified for the "break" to single-elimination rounds. As the final day of the tournament unfolded, Cason and Frazer made it to the octofinal round, Gialopsos and Stanley advanced to quarterfinals and Cason and Carpenter and Haughey and Hernandez qualified for the semifinal round. A senior team from Claremont College eventually won the tournament.

In British Parliamentary debating, students win or lose debates as a team, but individual speakers on those teams are ranked for the quality of their presentational and strategic efforts. These speaker awards recognize the individual efforts of debaters regardless of the record of their teams. In an historic accomplishment, the top four speakers at the tournament were Alaska debaters, prevailing over a field of over 280 competitors to secure those top four spots. Amie Stanley, Michaela Hernandez, Akis Gialopsos and Colin Haughey were honored as the 4th, 3rd, 2nd and top speaker, respectively. Brett Frazer rounded out the Seawolves claim to half of the field of top 10 speakers with his 6th place overall ranking and was also honored as the top rookie speaker at the tournament.
 
All members of this powerful Seawolf contingent will return next year to compete as they prepare for the World Universities Debating Championships to be hosted by the University of Botswana.

For more information, please contact Steven Johnson at (907) 786-4391.