University of Oklahoma wins CEDA nationals debate tournament hosted at ISU

The University of Oklahoma debate team of R.J. Giglio and Nick Watts won the 2009 Cross Examination Debate Association Nationals hosted by the Idaho State University James M. and Sharon Rupp Debate Society.

Giglio and Watts earned a 7-4 decision over the team of Deven Cooper and Dayvon Love of Towson University (located near Baltimore, Md.) in a late night decision on Tuesday, March 24.

This year’s CEDA Nationals, the largest collegiate championship debate tournament in the country, featured 146 two-person teams from 83 universities and colleges from throughout the United States. The topic of this year’s debates was U.S. agricultural subsidies.

The University of Oklahoma earned its spot in the finals by defeating a team from the University of West Georgia, while Towson University earned its spot by defeating a team from the University of Texas, Dallas.

Host Idaho State University performed well in the tournament, with its team of Paul Montreuil and Danielle Jennings making it to the octo-finals, the “Sweet 16” of the tournament, before being defeated by Wichita State. Montreuil also was honored as one of the best individual debaters in the tournament, earning the ninth-place speaker spot.

“We had high goals coming into the tournament, wanting to win it,” said Sarah Partlow-Lefevre, director of the ISU Rupp Debate Society. “But I’m extremely proud of the showing of our team making it to the ‘Sweet 16’ and Paul earning a top-10 individual finish.”

Partlow-Lefevre and ISU assistant debate coach Scott Odekirk both said the tournament ran smoothly.

“Despite the blizzard that hit the area, the tournament came off very smoothly and many participants remarked on how well it was run,” Odekirk said. “It was a crazily, well-run tournament because of the work that Sarah Partlow-Lefevre and coordinator Desaray Odekirk-Brown put in.”

The ISU James M. and Sharon E. Rupp Debate Society has been the top team in its region six of the last seven years and has had good success at the CEDA Nationals.

CEDA, founded in 1971, is the primary national association promoting policy topic intercollegiate academic debate.  Its bylaws provide a framework for normalizing tournament practices and procedures. Additional information on CEDA is available at www.cedadebate.org/.

Top 10 Speakers CEDA Nationals:

1) Dayvon Love, Towson University, Baltimore, Md.

2) Chris Spurlock, University of Central Oklahoma

3) Jim Schultz, University of West Georgia

4) Brian Rubaie, University of Texas at Dallas

5) R.J. Giglio, University of Oklahoma

7 Nick Watts, University of Oklahoma

8 Andrew Baker, University of Texas at Dallas

9 Paul Montreuil, Idaho State University

10 Nate Cohn, Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washington

Final Round Team Results CEDA National:

Octo-finals (note: Some schools had more than one team in Octo-finals)  

University of Texas, Dallas def. University of Oklahoma

University of West Georgia def. Towson University

University of Oklahoma def. University of Texas, San Antonio

Towson University def. Baylor University

Wichita State University def. Idaho State University

Whitman College def. Gonzaga University

University of California, Berkeley def. Harvard University

University of Central Oklahoma def. University of Wyoming

Quarter Finals

University of Texas, Dallas def. University of Central Oklahoma

University of West Georgia def. University of California, Berkeley

University of Oklahoma def. Whitman College

Towson University def. Wichita State University

Semi Finals

Towson University def. University of Texas at Dallas

University of Oklahoma def. University of West Georgia

Finals

University of Oklahoma def. Towson University