Shenandoah Debaters Win National Championship
Young Team Makes Its Presence Known In University Debate Community
Shenandoah University’s Debate Team, which is just in its first full year of existence, both won a debate tournament in its inaugural year and turned in a March performance leading to a National Educational Debate Association crossfire national championship in Indianapolis, Indiana.
In February, the team won Ball State University’s “Cardinal Clash” in Muncie, Indiana (photo above). Team members also performed well as pairs and individually. Team members, holding their trophies, which are inscribed Ball canning jars, are shown above, left to right, front to back: Lora-Maria Koytcheva ’19, Grace Eberly ’20, Daniel Hillgren ’17, Matthew Laird ’17, Arun Thottakara ’18, Josiah O’Sullivan ’19, Benjamin Crowder ’20, Jonathan Kowiatek ’19, Zadok Miller ’17, and Andrew Sartain ’19. Laird and Thottakara won second place in crossfire, while Eberly and Koytcheva took third in that event. Miller and Hillgren were third in policy, while Kowiatek and Crowder were fourth. Miller also took first place as overall speaker in the policy category, while Hillgren was third in the same group. Sartain and Laird placed third and fifth, respectively, in the overall speaker crossfire competition.
Later that month, the team came away with another championship trophy at the Squirrel Shooter Debate Tournament in Columbus, Ohio, and sent two teams to the competition’s semifinals.
