KU Debate qualifies third team for National Debate Tournament
LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas debate team of junior Jacob Wilkus, Lawrence, and Owen Williams, Lee's Summit, Missouri, have qualified for the National Debate Tournament in Atlanta from April 5-8.
Wilkus and Williams were selected as at-large qualifiers for the National Debate Tournament (NDT) by the tournament’s selection committee based on their record over the course of the season. They are the third KU pair to qualify for the tournament this year. They join seniors Graham Revare, Shawnee; William Soper, Bucyrus; John Marshall, Lawrence; and Jiyoon Park, Topeka; who had already qualified.
To qualify as a third team, a team must be one of the six best third-teams in the country over the season.
“Qualifying for the NDT as a third team is incredibly difficult, and Jacob and Owen earned it with a remarkable season,” said Scott Harris, the David B. Pittaway Director of Debate.
The other schools that qualified three teams to the tournament are Dartmouth College, Emory University, Georgetown University, Northwestern University and Wake Forest University. This is the ninth straight year that KU has qualified three teams for the NDT and the 57th consecutive year of qualifying one or more teams to compete at the NDT.
KU has won the National Debate Tournament six times and reached the Final Four 19 times.