United States Naval Academy

Over the weekend of January 26^th to January 28^th, the Mary Washington debate team traveled to the United States Naval Academy tournament in Annapolis. In the novice division, two teams competed. Ben Saunders and Sean Slattery reached the final round of the tournament only to lose a close round to Liberty on a 2-1 decision. Both Ben and Sean received speaker awards.

In junior varsity, Farrah Tek and Amanda Gardner finished with a record of four wins and two losses.  Farrah and Amanda defeated a team from the United States Military Academy, but eventually lost in the in the quarterfinals.

Mary Washington sent three teams in the varsity division. Matt Struth and Kevin Kallmyer reached the semifinals, only to lose to top seeded Georgia. Nick Ryan and I reached the final round but also fell to the same Georgia team. All four debaters received speaker awards with Kevin taking top speaker.

In other news, the Mary Washington debate team began intramural basketball with a hard fought defeat on the Monday following the tournament. The Mary Washington Debate team played well but fell 83 to 26. The opposition had several members of the UMW varsity basketball team who mistakenly signed up for the wrong league. The UMW debate team is filing a formal appeal in order to reassert their dominance in both athletic and academic competitions.

George Mason Extravaganza

After the first week of classes, the Mary Washington debate team traveled an hour up the road to compete at the George Mason “Patriot” Classic. Mary Washington sent a total of seven teams to the tournament, four in novice and three in varsity. In the novice division, the school advanced three teams to elimination rounds with the team of Sean Slattery and Ben Saunders advancing to the final round before dropping on a 2-1 decision to Boston College. Ben & Sean finished as the top seed with an undefeated record in the prelimary rounds. Several of the novice debaters took home speaker awards, Medina Ahmadzai finished 3^rd, Sean Slattery was 5^th, Nathaniel Delano ended up 6^th, Ben Saunders took 7^th, and Rachel Adkisson rounded out the novice speaker awards with 9^th. 

In the varsity division, Mary Washington switched up its teams but continued its successful season. Jason Martin & Andrew Snyder-Beattie finished as the number two seed with a record of five wins and one loss. Amanda Gardner and I finished as the third seed with a record of four wins and two losses, and Nick Ryan and Farrah Tek had the same record and were the fourth seed. In the elimination rounds, Mary Washington won all of their rounds and would eventually close out finals with Jason & Andrew being crowned champions. Three debaters received speaker awards:  Nick Ryan finished 1^st, I finished 3^rd and Jason took 8^th.

Matt & Kevin Head West

Over winter break, the team of Matt Struth and Kevin Kallmyer headed out of west to the state of California to compete in a series of tournaments known as the California Swing. The first tournament took place over the course of December 29^th to the 31^st at the University of Southern California. At the USC tournament, Matt & Kevin finished with a record of five wins and two losses and advanced to the elimination rounds where they would lose to Wake Forest University. The second tournament in California took place just two days later at CSU Fullerton. At the Fullerton tournament, Matt and Kevin finished with a record of four wins and two losses before losing to Harvard’s top team in the elimination rounds of the tournament.

After a week long break, the team resumed competition at UC-Berkeley where they would have one of their most successful tournaments of the year. Matt & Kevin finished the early rounds with a record of four wins and two losses but would gain momentum going into elim rounds with a victory over Emory in Round 6 of the tournament. In the octofinals, Matt & Kevin defeated one of Georgia’s top teams who was the fifth seed at the tournament. In the quarterfinals, Matt & Kevin took down the host school of UC-Berkeley on a 3-0 decision before losing in the semifinals to Northwestern.

Great Ending to 1st Semester

Mary Washington ended the first half of the year with a strong performance at both the Wake Forest and Towson tournaments. The varsity team completed its season at the Franklin R. Shirley Classic which took place in Winston Salem. UMW sent the teams of Matt Struth & Kevin Kallmyer and Nick Ryan & I. Nick & I finished with a record of four wins and four losses. Matt & Kevin had a more successful tournament and finished with a record of five wins and three losses, defeating the defending national champion from Emory and defeating Harvard's top team. Matt Struth received recognition as the 17th best speaker. Matt is the first debater in Mary Washington's history to receive a speaker award at the Wake Forest tournament. In the elimination rounds, Matt and Kevin continued their success and defeated one of the nations top teams from UC-Berkeley. In their next elimination round, Matt & Kevin lost on a 2-1 decision to Harvard. The 2007 Shirley Classic was one of Mary Washington’s most successful tournaments in recent history.

The JV and novice debaters, finished their season at the Towson debate tournament which took place in early December. In order to gain valuable experience for the second semester, both the novice and JV debaters debated one level higher than usual. Mary Washington sent a total of four teams, each of which reached the elimination rounds. In the JV division, Amanda Gardner & Farrah Tek and Sean Slattery & Ryan Lott reached the final round and were declared co-champions. In the varsity division, Ben Saunders & Hillary Galbraith reached the octofinals, and the team of Andrew Snyder-Beattie & Eric Halsey reached the quarterfinals.

Matt Pulls in Speaker Award at Wake

The Mary Washington debate team’s flag football squad also finished the semester strong and ended its season with a record of three wins and three losses. In the first game of the season, the team came through with a 21-14 victory led by Jason Martin who threw for three touchdown passes, two of which were to me. In the second game of the season, the team was soundly defeated at the hands of the varsity baseball team. UMW Debate qualified for the playoffs but was unable to compete.

Liberty Tournament

The first weekend of November proved to be successful for the Mary Washington debate team. The team sent seven teams to compete at Liberty University's debate tournament in Lynchburg, VA.

In the novice division, each of the four teams debating reached the elimination rounds. The teams of Brett Kube & Sean Slattery, and Rachel Adkisson & Ryan Lott reached the Octofinals. Hillary Galbreaith & Ben Saunders also had a good showing and reached the Quarterfinals. However, the most notable accomplishment was by the team of Nathaniel Delano and Medina Ahmadzai who reached the finals of the tournament. Nathaniel and Medina debated well but eventually fell to Boston College. Sean Slattery had an impressive individual showing and received 3rd speaker out of over fifty other competitors.

In the Junior Varsity division, the Eagles entered two teams who both reached the elims. The team of Farrah Tek and Amanda Gardner reached the semifinals and were closed out by the team of Andrew Snyder-Beattie and Eric Halsey. Eric and Andrew reached the finals of the tournament but lost a close round on a 2-1 decision to the United States Military Academy.

In the Varsity division, the only team competing was Nick Ryan and myself. Nick and I reached the quarterfinals and both received speaker awards of fifth and second respectively. Although Mary Washington did not win any of the divisions, the University cleared every team that it entered and had an overall impressive showing.

Big Weekend at Harvard and Clarion

Over the weekend of October 26th to October 29th, Mary Washington enjoyed a historic weekend. The majority of the squad competed at the Clarion University tournament where UMW won every division at the tournament. In the novice division, five teams from the University competed with four reaching elimination rounds. The teams of Eric Halsey & Sean Slattery and Terrell Taylor & Nate Delano closed out the final round of the tournament were named co-champions. In the Junior Varsity division, Amanda Gardner and Farrah Tek finished the prelim rounds with a record of 3 wins and 3 losses but rebounded to win the tournament in the break rounds. In the Varsity division, Jason Martin and Andrew Snyder-Beattie finished the early rounds as the third seeded team and would defeat teams from Boston College, Pittsburgh and Wayne State to win the tournament.

Also competing that weekend were Matt Struth & Kevin Kallmyer who hoped to continue early season success. At the Harvard University tournament, Matt & Kevin would defeat some of the nation's most difficult debate teams including the defending national champion from Emory University. In the prelim rounds, Matt & Kevin took down top ranked teams from Emory, West Georgia and Kansas. After finishing the prelim rounds with a record of 6 wins and 2 losses, the team lost a close round on a 2-1 decision against Missouri State. Matt Struth also received 12th speaker at the tournament which is often considered the most difficult tournament in the first semester. Prior to this past weekend, Mary Washington had never cleared a team at the Harvard tournament.