Boston College advanced to the semi-finals in novice at the American Debate Association’s National Tournament held at the University of Las Vegas during March 6-8, 2020.
A partial list of teams competing at the tournament included Dartmouth, Emory, Harvard, Indiana University, University of Michigan, and Wake Forest.
Cross Conrad, ’23 & Louis Gleason, IV, ’23 compiled a 4-2 record during the preliminary rounds defeating teams from Monmouth University, University of Mary Washington, University of Houston, and they received a bye in round 2.
In the octo finals, BC was locked on the negative side versus Liberty. This was a revenge match for Conrad & Gleason as this was the same Liberty team that defeated them in a 2-1 decision in the quarter finals at the Northeast regionals at New School. Utilizing virtually the same negative strategy, BC defeated Liberty in a decisive 3-0 decision.
BC met George Mason in the quarter finals. George Mason won the coin flip and chose to debate on the affirmative. Conrad & Gleason were delighted as they were loaded to bear with negative arguments. The first negative speech by Gleason was so devastating that the second affirmative speaker from George Mason used almost all of his team’s preparation time. In a swift decision, all 3 judges voted for BC.
In the semi-finals, BC faced another Liberty team. BC won the coin flip and choose to debate on the affirmative. Due to some poor time allocation decisions in the first affirmative rebuttal, BC lost to Liberty in a 3-0 decision.
In the other semi-final, round Liberty defeated Mary Washington, which meant Liberty closed out the novice division. In the junior varsity division, two Liberty teams closed out the JV division. In the open division, the top seed from Emory defeated the University of California, Berkeley in a 2-1 decision.
At the awards banquet, Louis Gleason, IV was voted by his peers as the best novice debater for the 2019-2020 season. For the season, Gleason won numerous speaker awards and reached the elimination rounds at every tournament, including quarter-finals at five tournaments: George Mason, the ADA fall Championship, US Naval Academy, Monmouth, and the Northeast regionals at New School.
Due to the Coronavirus, Boston College’s debate season has ended. Both the National Debate Tournament and the ACC debate tournament have been cancelled. For information about the debate program, contact John Katsulas at katsulas@bc.edu.