The UW debate team has not drawn attention on campus as the basketball team has, but that does not mean their performance is not noteworthy.
Attending a total of ten tournaments this year, the UW debate team traveled and competed heavily. The team broke into out rounds at half of these tournaments and qualified a team to compete at the National Debate Tournament (NDT). Zach Moss, debate grad assistant, said the team has worked hard to get to where they are now.
“They have dealt with every barrier in their way with grace and dedication to their craft,” Moss said. “It’s a privilege to work with them.”
Spencer Culver, a sophomore on the team, said reuniting with his partner, Ben Berry, has brought a lot of success. The Culver and Berry team made it to the triple-octa finals round with a 5-3 record at the Cross Examination Debate Association (CEDA) tournament.
“We have a tradition where if you make it into the elimination rounds, the debaters who didn’t make it to that spot stay up all night to do research for your debate in the morning. It’s very stressful,” Culver said.
He also said preparing during the season is extremely taxing.
“It’s a constant battle of will, you need to balance either school, debate or sleep, and I generally get to choose two of those things,” Culver said. “I generally choose school and debate.”
Culver said their team beat several top 40 percent of the country teams and he feels really satisfied with that.
Hunter McFarland, a junior studying political science, said qualifying was really exciting and said that the work it took to get there was intensive.
“I started preparing in May last year. We generally prepare extensively during the summer for the first tournament,” McFarland said. “There are basically no breaks when it comes to debate.
Mary Marcum, senior and partner to McFarland, said the team runs drills and practices constantly.
Marcum and McFarland will be competing at the NDT in early April and the teams who have not qualified will do research up until the tournament despite being done competing.
