KU News Release

For 40th straight year, KU qualifies for the National Debate Tournament

LAWRENCE — A pair of University of Kansas students qualified to attend the National Debate Tournament, which will be March 30-April 3 in Dallas, Texas. This is the 40th consecutive year that KU debaters have qualified for the tournament.

The KU team of Brett Bricker, Wichita junior, and Andrew Jennings, Silver Lake junior, qualified for the tournament via a first-round-at-large bid, which is reserved for the top 16 two-person teams in the country. Bricker and Jennings earned the elite status of first-round national tournament qualifiers by applying to the National Debate Tournament Committee, which chose them based on their season record.

KU’s qualifying streak is the second-longest in the country. KU debaters have won the coveted national title four times and reached the final four 13 times. KU has sent more teams to the National Debate Tournament than any other college or university.

The rest of the 78-team field for the National Debate Tournament will be filled out in qualifying tournaments held during the next two weeks. Lindsey Lathrop, Overland Park senior, and Nathan Johnson, Manhattan junior, will attempt to qualify for the tournament through the district qualifying tournament, Feb. 24-26 in Austin, Texas.

While the final rankings of the top 16 teams will not be released until the national tournament, KU debate coach Scott Harris said he thinks Bricker and Jennings will end up as one of the top five teams in the rankings. Those teams will have their names placed on traveling plaques that honor the top five teams in the country for each year.

During the regular season, Bricker and Jennings compiled a tournament record of 65 wins and 18 losses. They took first place at a tournament at the University of Southern California, second place at Harvard University and third place at Wake Forest University. They finished the season at Northwestern University, taking fifth place out of 156 teams with nine wins and two losses. Out of a field of 312 competitors at Northwestern, Jennings was the third-place individual speaker and Bricker was the fifth-place individual speaker.

Other schools receiving at-large invitations to the National Debate Tournament are Emory University, Harvard University, Northwestern University, Dartmouth College, Idaho State University, University of California-Fullerton, University of Georgia, University of Missouri-Kansas City, University of Oklahoma, University of Southern California, Wayne State University and Whitman College.

The KU student debaters are listed below by hometown, major and level in school, parents’ names and high schools attended.

JOHNSON COUNTY
From Overland Park 66213
Lindsey Lathrop, senior in political science with a minor in African and African-American studies, daughter of Robert and Kelly Lathrop; Blue Valley Northwest High School.

RILEY COUNTY
From Manhattan 66502
Nathan Johnson, senior in political science, son of Ron and Betty Johnson; Manhattan High School.

SEDGWICK COUNTY
From Wichita 67206
Brett Bricker, junior in mathematics, son of Gary and Norma Bricker; Wichita High School Southeast.

SHAWNEE COUNTY
From Silver Lake 66539
Andrew Jennings, junior in political science, son of Joe and Kathy Jennings; Silver Lake Junior-Senior High School.

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