Georgia Debate Union wins LU tournament

Congratulations to the Georgia Debate Union, which continues to perform at a very high level and represent UGA student excellence. The team won the Liberty University intercollegiate debate tournament held November 4 through 6 in Lynchburg, Virginia.

Over 100 teams from across the East Coast attended the tournament, including teams from the US Military Academy, the US Naval Academy, Georgetown University, Wake Forest University, the University of Florida, Dartmouth College, and Vanderbilt University. 

The team of Nathan Rice, sophomore from Roswell, and Johnnie Stupek, sophomore from Sandy Springs, recently finished in first place.

Rice and Stupek defeated teams from Rutgers University, Binghamton University, the University of Pittsburgh, among many others on their way to victory.  It was the second time in 3 years that the Georgia Debate Union has finished first place at the event.  

In addition to the first place finish, 3 additional teams from UGA earned spots in the elimination rounds of the tournament.  The teams of Advait Ramanan and Swapnil Agrawal (5th place), Genevieve Hackman and Katie Marshall (17th place), and Cameron Henderson and Alyssa Hoover (17th place) also enjoyed tremendous success over the weekend. 

Great students bringing some well-earned hardware back to campus. Very well done, and thanks to debate coach Hays Watson for keeping us updated. The Georgia Debate Union will soon be attending the Wake Forest tournament, the largest and most prestigious college policy debate tournament in the fall semester. Best of luck to all.

Image: The winning UGA team of Johnnie Stupek, left, and Nathan Rice.