Liberty Debate continues successful run, qualifies for national tournament

The Liberty University Debate Team entered the home stretch of its 2019-2020 season with success in back-to-back tournaments at the University of Mary Washington and The New School in February, qualifying for the 2020 National Debate Tournament (NDT).

The varsity squad traveled to Fredericksburg, Va., for the District 7 qualifying tournament at Mary Washington, where it faced universities from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington D.C., and West Virginia. The team competed in eight debates over two days to earn a spot in the NDT, debate’s oldest and most prestigious tournament. Sophomores Jared DeMunbrun and Maverick Edwards finished with a record of 4-4 to earn the seventh and final qualifying spot.

Liberty has qualified two teams to the NDT for nine of the last 11 years, making it one of only eight schools in the nation to do so. It is also currently ranked first in both the Cross Examination Debate Association (CEDA) and NDT rankings. If they were to win at the American Debate Association National Tournament (ADANT) in Las Vegas this Friday through Sunday, they would sweep all three titles, a feat that they have achieved in nine of the last 13 years and something that no other university has accomplished.

“Qualifying to the National Debate Tournament as sophomores is an impressive accomplishment,” Liberty Director of Debate Michael Hall said. “Jared and Maverick have become a consistently good team. If they continue to improve, they have a chance to become a great team.  We’re excited to see what they can do at the 2020 NDT.”

Liberty’s junior varsity and novice squads travelled to New York City for the Cross Examination Debate Association’s Northeast Regional Championship at The New School, where the three junior varsity teams posted wins over Cornell, NYU, and The New School en route to a combined record of 17-1 in the preliminary debates.

The Flames earned the top three seeds in the elimination rounds, led by the duo of Justice Wallenmeyer with Ryan Wittstock and Rachel Solsman with Addison Wagner, and both teams finished with a perfect record of 6-0. The team of Isaac Liu and Emily Schwab finished the preliminary rounds with a 5-1 record.

In the ensuing elimination rounds, the team from Cornell exacted a measure of revenge by defeating Liberty’s top two teams in split decisions, once in the semifinals and once in the finals.

Liberty’s novice teams defeated teams from the United States Military Academy (USMA), NYU, and Boston College as they finished the preliminary debates with a combined record of 18-6. Daniel Gibson and Sidney Johnson led the way with a 5-1 record, earning the second seed in the elimination rounds. Gibson and Johnson defeated a team from USMA (Army) in the quarterfinal round and advanced over Liberty’s duo of Savannah Rose Snyder and McKayla Swan to reach the final round. In the final round, Gibson and Johnson defeated the top-seeded team from Army by a 2-1 decision.

The novice squad has finished either in first or second place in nine of the 10 tournaments it participated in this year, taking six first-place finishes.

The Flames will continue their season at the ADANT and then move on to the JV/Novice National Tournament in Binghamton, N.Y., on March 13-15.