IU Debate is back from our winter break with a packed schedule! The team is going to three tournaments in the first month as we head back to classes. This weekend our debaters are participating in our own Hoosier Invitational Tournament where we are digitally hosting some of our friends from around the country to start off the semester. Then over the following weeks our debaters will participate in tournaments hosted by the Naval Academy and the University of Texas. Last semester the team saw great success as the team was ranked 9th in the country by the Cross Examination and Debate Association. The team is excited to build on its resounding success from last semester!
Going into the fall semester IU debate was hoping to get one or two in person tournaments in. However, uncertainty with Covid made it so we were all online again. This did not deter the brilliant debaters at IU. 17 students across the IU campus from SPEA, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Kelley school of business, and the Luddy School competed in debates over Federal Antitrust policy. 13 of those debaters were new to the team this year!
The team focused a lot this past semester on building up future Hoosier debaters and they proved to be heavy hitters in the novice field. Starting as early as Northwestern, Tejasram Ramesh and Jonathan Weisbach made it to the second elimination round. The energy in the room was palpable! Two weekends later going into Kentucky Jonathan Weisbach and Zane Kierzyck made it to the Novice finals. While they lost on a 3-0 decision to Houston, they found it to be an invaluable learning experience. Sofia Vidali and Belle Chatpunnarangsee also broke to out rounds at Kentucky and were semifinalists at the tournament.
Going into spooky season (Halloween), the team attended the Wayne State tournament. Our team was determined to have our best showing. Kyler Logan had a wipe out on the morning of the second day, but thanks to his determination and support from his teammates he was able to finish out the tournament. Given our grit and determination the team scared all our opponents, and all four teams broke into elimination rounds! Hattie Hoham and Anekah Fish won JV finals on a 2-1 decision against Samford. In Novice, Malea Floyd and Zane Kierzyck made it to finals, but lost on a 1-2 decision.
Coming off of the heels of our great success at the Wayne tournament, the debaters headed into the Wake Forest and Fall ADA Championship tournament. The Novice team showed great adaptability during this tournament as it was their first non-packet tournament. Our teams built off of their success in the last tournament and two teams went on to debate in elimination rounds. Sofia Viadli and Maaz Iqbal were quarterfinalists in the tournament. Malea Floyd and Zane Kierzyck won the Novice finals on a 3-0 decision and did not lose a single ballot the entire tournament!
The team wrapped up the semester with finals and holiday parties. At our last meeting we decorated cookies and coach Ayoka Wicks won the competition! The team had a solid winter break full of relaxing, practice drills, and research. The team is excited for another semester of debating against our friends from around the country!