KU News Release

Two KU teams headed for National Debate Tournament

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LAWRENCE — Two University of Kansas debate teams have been selected to compete in the National Debate Tournament, which will take place March 27-31 at California State University-Fullerton.

Brett Bricker, Wichita senior; Andrew Jennings, Silver Lake senior; Nathaniel "Nate" Johnson, Manhattan senior; and Christopher Stone, Derby sophomore, will represent KU at the 62nd NDT.

Both KU teams were among the top 16 individual teams ranked by the NDT selection committee and given automatic or at-large bids to nationals. Although KU regularly sends two teams to the tournament, this marks the first time since 1998 that two KU teams have received first-round at-large invitations. This is the 41st consecutive year that KU has qualified teams for the NDT, the second-longest streak in the country behind the University of Southern California. KU has won the NDT four times and advanced to the Final Four 13 times.

The first step in filling the 78-team field for the NDT is the selection of the top 16 two-person teams in the country based on performance during the season. The rest of the field is filled through qualifying tournaments.

Three other schools have two teams in the top 16: Harvard University, Emory University and Northwestern University. Schools with one team are the University of California-Berkeley, Dartmouth College, the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Missouri State University, the University of Southern California, Wake Forest University and the University of West Georgia.

The ranking order of the 16 teams is not revealed until the tournament. Awards are given to the top five first-round teams.

Last year, Bricker and Jennings received the award as the third-ranked first-round at-large team. Bricker and Jennings advanced to the Elite Eight, and Johnson was in the Sweet 16 in 2007.

“It is a tremendous achievement to have two teams in the top 16,” said debate coach Scott Harris. “We are very proud of the squads’ performance so far this year. They are among the hardest working debaters we have ever had at KU.”

KU debaters selected for the top 16 are listed below by hometown, year in school, major, parents’ names and high school, when available.

RILEY COUNTY
From Manhattan 66502
Nathaniel "Nate" Johnson, senior in philosophy, political science and psychology; son of Ron and Betty Johnson; Manhattan High School.

SEDGWICK COUNTY
From Derby 67037
Christopher Stone, sophomore in political science; son of Douglas and Gloria Stone; Derby High School.

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

SHAWNEE COUNTY
From Silver Lake 66539 and Topeka 66614
Andrew Jennings, senior in political science; son of Joe Jennings of Silver Lake and Kathy Tallman of Topeka; Silver Lake Junior-Senior High School.

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