Debate team wins big

Emma Myers and Emily Mosier

Two members of the Trojan Debate Team are now ranked among the top 25 best

colligate debaters in the country. The National Online Forensics Championship Tournament marked the second time the team has successfully gone head-to-head with debaters around the country in just their second year of competing, As of March 21, Eva Reese, a senior English and psychology major from Houston, Texas, placed in the bronze category at the National Online Forensics Championship Tournament, making her one of the top 16 debaters in the country.

“It felt amazing to place at something as huge as nationals,” said Reese, who is the

president of the debate team. “I only really started debating in tournaments this year, and to see that in such a short time I’ve come so far has been amazing.

“I owe it all to my wonderful debate coach, Michael Gray.”

Matilda Ziegler, the vice president of the team, placed 21st and won 11th top speaker.

“It has been very rewarding to watch the progress of myself and my teammates

throughout my tenure as a debater at Troy,” said Ziegler, who is a junior history major from

Shelby, North Carolina. “I am extremely honored to be ranked once again as one of the nation’s best IPDA debaters, and to have been ranked eleventh in the nation for my speaking skills at the tournament.”

The format of the tournament was facilitated by the International Public Debate

Association (IDPA), and it consisted of thirty minutes of preparation and 30 minutes of debating for each round.

“Affirmation and negation both have five minutes for initial arguments,” Reese said.

“Then both sides get two minutes to ask questions to the other side in a cross examination.

“Negation then gets six minutes to refute the affirmation, and then three minutes for

affirmation to do the same. The negation gets their final five minutes, and affirmation concludes the last two minutes of the round.”

This season, members of the debate team have won numerous awards. Last semester,

Ziegler won 1st place in the novice division in the Sunshine State Tournament Series 2 making her the first Troy University student to ever win a debate tournament. This semester, Reese won 1st place in the novice division in the Sunshine State Tournament Series 3. Reese and Ziegler both won these with a perfect ballot, winning every round. Last semester, member Emily Mosier, a senior double majoring in English and multimedia journalism from New Hope, Florida, placed in the top 8 as a quarter finalist at the Razorback Rumble Debate Tournament held by the University of Arkansas.

"I couldn't be prouder - not only for the successes these young academics continue

to achieve, but also for their work as team leaders,” said Michael Gray, a lecturer of

communication studies and the advisor and founder of the debate team. “When they're

not busy winning tournaments and achieving national rankings, Matilda and Eva spend

their time mentoring new recruits and making plans for the fall semester."