Debate team finishes season with outstanding performance at national championship

In debate circles, they’re known as “Emporia FL,” and they have wrapped up a successful season for Emporia State University.

ESU Debate Team. Front: Samuel Maurer, Matt Cook, Chris Loghry, LaToya Williams-Greene. Back: Raymond Jackson, William “JT” Taylor, Kurt Fifelski, Ryan Wash, Hayley Holloway-Utter. (Click to enlarge.)

The debate team of Kurt Fifelski and Chris Loghry finished 33rd overall at the Cross-Examination Debate Association’s (CEDA) National Championship Tournament in Pocatello, Idaho. Fifelski, from Wayland, Mich., and Loghry, of Cheyenne, Wyo., were also both honored as members of the All-American Team for the 2008-2009 season.

ESU’s assistant debate coach, William “JT” Taylor was also honored, winning the Critic of the Year Award for the Mid-America Region.

Overall, the last tournament of the year was great for Hornet debate, said Sam Maurer, director of debate at ESU. “We really couldn’t be happier about how the tournament went. It was the culmination of and a great reflection on a very successful season,” said Maurer.

“It’s not always enough to be successful – you have to be able to replicate that success,” said Taylor. “Chris and Kurt have had very consistent success this season.”

ESU’s team of Fifelski and Loghry carried 300 lbs. of evidence to CEDA Nationals. The team must be precise about measuring their tubs’ weight so that airlines will allow them on the plane. (Click to enlarge.)

Fifelski and Loghry haven’t counted the hours they worked before CEDA Nationals, but estimate that it was about 200. “People assume that we just hop out of a van, disagree with someone, hop back in and drive home,” Loghry offered, “but this is a much more complicated, high-tech, strategic, and work-intensive game than people give it credit for.”

The team spends more time preparing, according to Maurer. “Kurt and Chris can turn out 400 pages of research in a weekend. They will routinely embarrass teams by knowing the research and literature of their opponent’s arguments better than their opponents do.”

Much of the preparation for debate tournaments is dedicated to research. The research involved in debate spans every part of academia – biological and physical sciences, economics, philosophy, comparative literature, education and pedagogy, communication and rhetoric, quantum physics, and sociology.

Although neither Fifelski nor Loghry has received a speaker award this year, they are widely considered one of the better teams in District III, ESU’s debate district which roughly corresponds to the Big 12 of the NCAA. District III is widely recognized as the most competitive district in the country.

In addition to their success at the tournament, Fifelski and Loghry also were named to the CEDA All-American Team. Thirty student debaters nationwide are elected to the team every year.

“We were going to be excited if one of us made the All-American Team,” said Loghry, “but then they called both of our names and we just lost it.”

A debater is selected to the All-American Team based on competitive success and character. “Kurt and Chris are very good at debate,” said Taylor, “but perhaps more importantly, they’re great citizens of this community. They are classy. They are professional.”

Debaters and judges use a specific note-taking technique called “flowing” to keep track of arguments in a debate round. An average round requires seven to 10 different sheets of paper, each representing a different issue in the debate. In a average weekend, debaters will take about 75 pages of notes like this. (Click to enlarge.)

At the tournament, Taylor won the Mid-America Critic of the Year Award.

“JT judges a lot of debate rounds and is very good at it,” said Maurer. “This award is reflective of the skills he has developed over many years in debate and a talent he has for teaching.”

Debate rounds at each tournament are typically judged by coaches from other universities. Each school that brings teams to the tournament must also provide a certain amount of judging per team to make sure that there are enough units of judging for the tournament to run.

“It’s bittersweet, because I’m glad we finished this season strong but I don’t quite want it to be over right now,” Maurer said. “A team never succeeds because one person, it doesn’t even succeed because of a group of people. It succeeds or fails based on the culture that exists between those people. Right now, I feel great about our squad’s culture and don’t want to wait another few months to compete again.”

“We finished strong and will start next season even stronger with everyone coming back.” Taylor said. “We’re not graduating anyone for a couple of years and we get stronger every day.”

Last Updated April 14, 2009>