College Speech and Debate Team ranked No. 9 nationally

The Grove City College Speech and Debate Team finished the 2008-2009 year ranked No. 9 nationally out of about 250 teams in the National Parliamentary Debate Association, the largest debate association in the U.S.

It is the College’s third year of Parliamentary debate competition. The team finished the 2007-2008 year ranked No. 11 nationally.

Grove City capped the year at the 12th National Christian College Forensics Invitational at Biola University in La Mirada, Calif., March 13 to 15. Out of more than 20 schools, Grove City was honored as the top quality program and also earned a third-place finish in Division I debate sweepstakes, trailing only Point Loma Nazarene University (the top overall winner) and Patrick Henry College.

The quality award is given to the program that, competitor by competitor, does the best overall. It allows schools, regardless of size, to compete on equal ground.

Dr. Steven Jones, adviser and associate professor of sociology, said teams had to qualify to go to nationals. Six entered the tournament; two teams in the junior varsity category and four teams in the open category. Of the six teams, four broke to the elimination rounds. Junior Luke Juday of Chesapeake, Va., and sophomore Dayne Batten of Cary, N.C., advanced to the quarter-finals in the open division while sophomores Kelsey Winther of Modesto, Calif., and Dan Hanson of Danville, N.H., advanced to the octafinals. In the junior varsity division, freshmen Lauren Thomas of Fayetteville, N.C., and John Bianchi of Hartsdale, N.Y., reached the quarter-finals and freshmen Andy Walker of Gallipolis, Ohio, and James Van Eerden of Stokesdale, N.C., advanced to the semifinals.

“I think we are justifiably proud of our success this year,” Jones said. “This is our second year to be ranked in the top 20 programs in the country.” Jones said that of the eight or nine teams that competed on the Grove City squad this year, none of them had a losing record.

“I’m expecting a good crop of students next year, and we’re not losing anyone,” he said. “In fact, the majority of our team is in their sophomore year. I am very optimistic about next year.”

Jones said one of the key discoveries for this year’s team was that “nobody routinely beats us on content. We tend to lose on procedural arguments more than content.”

Picture: The national team competitors relax by the Pacific Ocean in March. (courtesy of Luke Juday)