Liberty Debate begins season with record-breaking run; duo considered frontrunners for nationals

Liberty University Debate has been off to a blistering start this fall with junior Kat Cazeau and senior Natalie Robinson making program history as the first duo to start the season with two Top 5 finishes and the first to earn Top 3 speaker awards at three consecutive major tournaments.

This season, teams have been debating both sides of the topic, “Resolved: The United States Federal Government should substantially increase prohibitions on anticompetitive business practices by the private sector by at least expanding the scope of its core antitrust laws.”

In a field of more than 100 teams at the first tournament, hosted by Northwestern University Sept. 17-21, Cazeau and Robinson finished the preliminary rounds recorded victories over Dartmouth, Emory, and Georgetown before defeating Kansas in the round of 32 and Emory in the round of 16. Cazeau and Robinson were defeated in the quarterfinal round by Harvard on a 2-1 decision. Robinson was named the tournament’s top speaker and Cazeau was named the tournament’s third best speaker. The duo of sophomore Jordan Ramsey and junior Justice Wallenmeyer defeated Wake Forest before losing to Kansas in the round of 32.

At the University of Kentucky Oct. 2-4, Cazeau and Robinson compiled a 5-1 record with wins against Wyoming, Wichita State, Minnesota, Wake Forest, Michigan State, Michigan, and George Mason. Michigan’s top team defeated Cazeau and Robinson in the final round on yet another close 2-1 decision. Cazeau and Robinson were recognized as the tournament’s top individual speakers, with Robinson again claiming first speaker.

Cazeau and Robinson finished in the top 16 of Harvard’s tournament on Oct. 30-Nov. 1 with wins over Kentucky, Gonzaga, Missouri State, and Kansas before losing to Emory. Robinson was again named the tournament’s top individual speaker with Cazeau being second.

Cazeau and Robinson did not compete in the Nov. 5-7 tournament at Liberty, but their fellow varsity debate duos of Rachel Solsman/Addison Wagner and Ramsey/Wallenmeyer were the top two teams, each finishing with a perfect 8-0 record, taking wins over New York University, James Madison, Rutgers, the Naval Academy, George Mason, and Binghamton.

Liberty’s junior varsity and novice debaters competed in the Binghamton University Tournament Sept. 24 and 25, where the JV team of sophomore Melanie Dellinger and sophomore Alaina Megill (4-2 preliminary round record) joined the team of sophomore Josiah Joyce and sophomore Jackson Posey (5-1) in the semifinal round. Novice debaters Abigail Iwanoff and Madilynn Richardson finished with a 5-1 preliminary record before falling to Cornell in the quarterfinal round.

All teams finished out this semester’s schedule on Nov. 13-15 with a tournament hosted by Wake Forest. The duos of Robinson/Cazeau and Ramsey/Wallenmeyer were both eliminated in the round of 32 by Wake Forest and Kansas, respectively. Robinson once again earned best individual speaker, making her the top speaker at all four major tournaments of the fall semester, and Cazeau placed eighth. The JV team of Jackson Posey and Josiah Joyce made it to the final round of their tourney, and the novice team of Kaleb Horne and Lucas McIntosh made it to the semifinals, where they lost to the University of Indiana.

The spring semester will begin with a competition at the U.S. Naval Academy the second week of January leading up to national tournaments for the three national debate organizations: American Debate Association (ADA), Cross Examination Debate Association (CEDA), and the National Debate Tournament (NDT). Liberty remains the only school to finish atop the final national rankings of all three organizations in one year — and they have accomplished the feat 10 times in the last 14 years.