Simpson Debate champions of 2013 O’Donnell Debate Tournament

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by Steffi Lee

And they win again.

Simpson College Debate is the championship team of the 2013 O’Donnell Debate Tournament in Ohio.

Sophomores Ethan Fredrick and Jacy Gomez completed the tournament with a perfect 7-0 record in parliamentary debate. This led them to the championship round in which Fredrick and Gomez brought home first place. Fredrick and Gomez beat Grove City College’s team on a 3-0 decision.

Simpson came in second place in overall team points among the eight schools competing in the tournament hosted by the Marietta College Forensics Team and the Ohio Zeta Chapter of Pi Kappa Delta.

In addition to winning the championship round, Fredrick once again received the title of top speaker among participating debaters.

Multiple public forum debate teams are also now qualified to compete in the College Public Forum (CPF) Nationals taking place in February 2014.

The teams are: Paul Safford and Jacob McLain, Ethan Fredrick and Tegan Jarchow, Emma Kain and Jacy Gomez and Kiley Murray and Michelle Beving.

Director of speech and debate Spencer Waugh said this is the most number of national qualifiers Simpson Debate has ever had.

Simpson came in first at CPF Nationals last year, with Fredrick and Gomez claiming the national championship title and the team of Nate Connealy and Alex Severn winning second place. Connealy and Severn were both sophomores at the time.

The team travels to Mankato, Minn. on Nov. 19 to compete in parliamentary debate.