ESU debate team starts season off strong

The Emporia State University debate team started their season in strong fashion. At the Wichita State University Invitation held September 23-25, three ESU teams took home honors. At the Walter Ulrich season opener held at the University of Northern Iowa, the junior varsity team was the star.

At the WSU invitation the first year team of Joelle Jasper and Paul Mose took third place in the varsity division, while senior Dustin Rimmey and sophomore Matt Cook took fourth place. The junior varsity team of sophomore T.J. Dubin and freshman Zahra Nasr-azadani took third place in that division. Nasr-azadani was the top speaker in the junior varsity division for the second tournament in a row, while Dubin was third.

At the University of Northern Iowa tournament, the junior varsity team was in the spotlight, losing a close 2-1 decision in the final round to the University of Kansas . Dubin and Nasr-azadani were seventh and first speaker respectively.

"T.J. and Zahra have been pretty dominating in their division through the first two tournaments. Zahra has just been amazing - it is very difficult to get top speaker at two different tournaments two weekends in a row,” said Ken DeLaughder, director of debate. “T.J. is also doing well. We are extremely proud of their performance. They will move up into the varsity division the next tournament to see how they do there and get some experience."

Zahra Nasr-azadani is a recipient of the prestigious Virginia Endly Scholarship at ESU. "She represents the best of this University and we're proud to have her here," DeLaughder said.

"For Paul and Joelle to be in semifinals in their second college tournament is also something we didn't expect,” said James Taylor, assistant director. “Normally it takes first year debaters a semester or two to make the adjustment to a deeper and more intense level of debate, but they seem to have done it right away. They avenged the loss to University of Kansas we had the previous weekend, we have a strong rivalry with the Jayhawks."

ESU also defeated teams from University of Texas-Austin , Missouri State University, Kansas State University, University of Texas-San Antonio, Wichita State University, and Baylor University, TX, among others. "Our performance shows the caliber of students we have at ESU and with only one senior among them, the future for the team is indeed bright," DeLaughder said.

The team travels to Missouri State University on Sept. 30 and will prepare to host its own tournament on the ESU campus October 15-17.

Last Updated July 2, 2007>