Victory In Both Formats and Divisions Up North In Vermont

The URDU had a great weekend in Vermont. We had success in both varsity and novice, and in both of our formats. We continue to see great performances from new debaters and experienced debaters alike, boding well for next semester.

Left: URDU debaters during off-time between rounds; Right: David Merkle, devoted URDU alum and judge at VT, shows his enthusiasm at the UVM Huber Debates.

In Worlds Miriam Kohn and Chris Perkins finished the tournament as finalists, a close second place to Queens. They also got individual recognition, with Miriam taking 3rd speaker and Chris taking 8th. Ben Frazer and Graeme McGuire also finished as semi-finalists. These two teams did incredibly well given the high competitive quality at this tournament – over 100 teams participated.

Left to Right: Ben Frazer, Graeme McGuire, Miriam Kohn, and Chris Perkins waiting for the semifinal round motion to be released.

In Policy debate Margeaux Kelly and Matthew Lyskawa finished as novice finalists, and Tobi Abubakare and Cedric Bonsol finished as varsity semi-finalists, with both teams losing close debates to Oklahoma teams. Cedric also took home the 5th speaker award in Varsity. 

The URDU looks ahead to lots of great competition in the spring, not to mention our own tournament coming up on November 21-22! If you’re interested in participating or volunteering to help at the tournament, please contact Brady Fletcher at brady.fletcher@rochester.edu. We look forward to seeing some alums and friends from other schools, and having some amazing debates in a couple of weeks!