The Lafayette debate team had a very successful weekend at the most important tournament of the semester.  The Ohio State/Otterbein Holiday Frolic swing is often referred to as the Fall Championships.  It is one of the largest invitations that Lafayette travels to and the entire semester builds toward this tournament.  The tournament was attended by 30 schools, including The Ohio State University, University of Notre Dame, University of Florida, University of Pennsylvania, Indiana University, University of Nebraska, Creighton University, Truman State University and the reigning national champions, Western Kentucky University.

Ohio State hosted the first half of the swing.  At this tournament, 3 of the 4 Lafayette debaters advanced to the elimination rounds.  Unfortunately, James Hilbert (Junior) and Sam Derrick (Senior) were pitted against each other in the round of 16 as the 8th and 9th seeds respectively.  James advanced to quarterfinals as the higher seed.  Samantha Sangenito (Sophomore) debated Max Wiliger from The Ohio State University in the Round of 16 and advanced to the quarterfinals on a 2-1 decision.  In the quarterfinals, both Lafayette debaters advanced.  James defeated the tournament’s top seed, Christian Johns from Truman State University.  Samantha defeated Tariq Bruno from the University of the Pacific on a 3-0 decision.  In the semifinals, both Lafayette debaters were defeated by Will Chamberlain from the University of the Pacific and Western Kentucky University’s Sarah Spiker.  Placing two debaters in the semifinal round is no small feat, and Lafayette had the chance to close-out the final round of the tournament.

In individual events, Sangenito placed 6th in Informative Speaking and Angela Wnek (Freshman) placed 5th in Dramatic Interpretation.

The second half of the tournament was held at Otterbein College in Westerville, Ohio.  Hilbert and Derrick both advanced to elimination rounds.  James Hilbert lost on a 2-1 decision in the first elimination round in a rematch with Christian Johns from Truman State.  Sam Derrick advanced to the final round defeating Valerie Melton from Missouri Southern, Todd Rainey from Western Kentucky, and Logan Parke from Western Kentucky along the way.  In the final round, Sam debated against Michael Johnson from Missouri Southern and prevailed on a 3-0 decision.  It is the biggest tournament that Sam has ever won, with 54 debaters entered in the tournament.  It represents one of the biggest wins in team history.

The debate team is done traveling for the semester and is off until late January when the IE team travels to West Chester and the debaters travel to Webster University in St. Louis.

Happy Holidays!