KU News Release

LAWRENCE — For the 43rd consecutive year, University of Kansas debaters have qualified for the National Debate Tournament. The top 78 teams in the country will compete March 19-22 at the University of California-Berkeley.

The team of Christopher Stone, Derby senior, and Patrick Kennedy, Leawood junior, and the team of Dylan Quigley, Wichita senior, and Sean Kennedy, Leawood junior, received automatic first-round at-large invitations. Stone has qualified for the National Debate Tournament four times, and Sean Kennedy and Quigley have qualified twice.

“It is a tremendous accomplishment for the team to receive two first-round invitations to the National Debate Tournament,” said KU debate coach Scott Harris. “It is a testament to the hard work of the entire debate squad and all of the assistant coaches.”

During Harris’ 19-year tenure as debate coach, 15 KU teams have received first-round at-large invitations. He said a third team — Mathew Peterson, Wichita senior, and Mark Wilkins, Topeka sophomore — also is expected to make it into the tournament. If that happens, Harris said, it would be only the second time in the 64-year history of the National Debate Tournament that KU has had three teams in the national tournament.

This year, KU and Wake Forest University were the only schools to each have two teams ranked in the top 16.

Teams qualify through a three-step process for the four-day National Debate Tournament. First, the best 16 teams in the country are selected by a national committee based on their season-long performances and are given first-round at-large invitations to the tournament.

An additional 46 teams will qualify through district tournaments around the country over the next two weeks. The final 16 teams will be added in a second-round at-large process in which the national committee selects the best remaining 16 teams for the field. Up to six schools can qualify a third team to the tournament in the second-round process. That’s when Harris expects the Petersen-Wilkins team to be selected. They are scheduled to compete Feb. 26-28 in a district tournament at Missouri State University.

During the first three days of the tournament, every team competes in eight debates. Then the field is pared down for single-elimination debates among those teams that compile winning records. Harris has had 18 teams advance to elimination rounds, 14 teams advance to the sweet 16, six teams reach the elite eight and three teams to the final four. Last year, the KU team of Nate Johnson and Brett Bricker won the national championship.

Bricker, now a master’s student in communication studies, is among nine graduate students who are assistant coaches for KU’s debate team. Others are doctoral students Brian DeLong, Winston-Salem, N.C.; Michael Souders, Manhattan; Sarah Topp, Lawrence; Ben Warner, Price, Utah; and Kelly Winfrey, Raymore, Mo.; and master’s students Travis Cram, Cheyenne, Wyo.; Athena Murray, Dorr, Mich.; and Lindsey Shook, Tulsa, Okla.

Debate team members are listed below by hometown, year in school, major, parents’ names and high school.

JOHNSON COUNTY
From Leawood 66206
Patrick Kennedy, junior in economics and Spanish, son of Chris and Joan Kennedy; Shawnee Mission East High School.

Sean Kennedy, junior in linguistics, son of Chris and Joan Kennedy; Shawnee Mission East High School.

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

From Wichita 67208 and 67218
Dylan Quigley, senior in philosophy, son of Tim Quigley (67218) and Trix Niemberger (67208); Wichita High School East.

From Wichita 67218
Mathew Petersen, senior in economics, son of Laura Peterson-Miller and Virgil Miller; Wichita High School East.

SHAWNEE COUNTY
From Topeka 66604 and 66610
Mark Wilkins, sophomore in political science, son of Brent Wilkins (66610) and Janis Hinkle (66604); Washburn Rural High School.