Victory For URDU In The Green Mountains
November 1, 2016
Over this past weekend the URDU won big at the Huber Debates hosted by the Lawrence Debate Union at the University of Vermont, one of only three tournaments that hosts competitions in both of our formats all year. In a field of over eighty teams in worlds and twenty teams in policy we had huge success in both formats, proving we are a versatile, skilled squad!
The team posed for a picture on Sunday at the end of the tournament.
Most notably, on Sunday, three Rochester teams entered elimination rounds in the worlds format, a highlight of the semester. Chris Perkins and Miriam Kohn entered as the 5th seed overall at the tournament, and made it to Quarterfinals. Teams of Ben Frazer and Gabby Stillman, along with Syed Reefat Aziz and Graeme McGuire, made it all the way to finals – putting two Rochester teams in the final round of a tournament for the first time in our history. In the end it was Ben and Gabby who finished as champions, but Reefat and Graeme were also proud to finish as finalists.
On the policy front it was no less exciting. Tobi Abubakare and Cedric Bonsol debated hard through prelims, finishing with only a 3-3 record, but entering elimination rounds on high speaker points. Refusing to let their setbacks get the down, they kept fighting to win their first elimination round, and then lost in their quarterfinal debate to the team that would go on to win the tournament. Tobi and Cedric were able to win one of the three ballots in that debate, proving they are an impressive team with a bright future this season.
The 3rd, 9th, and 6th speaker award winners at the 2016 Huber Debates. From left to right: Miriam Kohn, Chris Perkins, and Ben Frazer.
Our individual performances were also impressive: Miriam Kohn was recognized as 3rd best speaker at the tournament, Ben Frazer was 6th, and Chris Perkins was 9th – out of some 160 competitors.
Hard work paid off this weekend at Vermont – the team looks ahead to some tough competition at Yale, Monmouth, and Wake Forest in the next three weeks. Stay tuned!
Former and current Rochester coaches had a brief reunion at the Huber Debates this year. L to R: Gordie Miller (former UR Assistant Director), Steve Llano (currently St. John’s), Sam Nelson (currently Cornell University), and Brady Fletcher (current Rochester director).