Marist Debate began second semester competition this past weekend, participating in the first annual Bard Debate Tournament at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY. Marist debaters Chris Kozak and Chris Arena competed in the varsity division while Margeaux Lippman and Alfie Mancuso represented Marist in the Novice bracket.
Lippman and Mancuso continued a trend of competitive success through outstanding speaking skills and strategic argument choice. Lippman and Mancuso achieved a record of four wins and two losses in their six rounds of preliminary debates, and defeated teams from The University of Vermont, SUNY Binghamton, Western Connecticut State University, and the University of Rochester. Their success in prelim rounds carried them to Quarterfinals where they faced the top Novice team from SUNY Binghamton. Despite an earlier prelim round victory over Binghamton, Lippman and Mancuso were defeated in a contentious decision, with two judges on the three judge panel voting for Binghamton. The third judge voted for Marist.
Alfie Mancuso proved invaluable to the team this weekend not only as an argumentative strategist, but also as an eloquent and persuasive speaker. Mancuso was recognized as the ninth speaker of a pool of 40 novice debaters. This is Mancuso's second consecutive speaker award this season.
Arena and Kozak struggled this weekend to find their competitive niche, achieving a record of 1-5 for the tournament. The pair faced tough competition and experienced several close calls throughout the tournament after losing their first round to the top team in the region from the University of Vermont. Kozak and Arena went on to face teams from Kansas State University, the University of Rochester, and NYU. Arena and Kozak defeated Binghamton University in preliminary rounds and have returned home to Marist with the intent to find the competitive success they experienced in the previous semester.
The Marist Debate team is in the process of gearing up for their next outing to SUNY Binghamton, Febrary 11-12, 2006. The Marist Debaters are refocusing their energies and research to prepare for tough, competitive, and educational debates over the coming months. Marist will attend Novice/Junior Varsity Nationals at West Virginia University as well as Cross Examination Debate Association's national tournament in March.
Marist Debaters Margeaux Lippman and Alfie Mancuso traveled to Amherst, MA for "Debate-a-palooza," the annual tournament held by the University of Massachusetts. Lippman and Mancuso made a stellar showing at their second policy debate tournament ever, finishing prelim debates with a record of four wins and two losses. The pair defeated teams from Cornell, NYU and local Mid-Hudson rivals Bard College. They narrowly lost two debates to SUNY Binghamton and SUNY Rochester
Following prelim competition, Lippman and Mancuso advanced to the first elimination debate of their careers against an undefeated Cornell team. Lippman and Mancuso lost on a 3-0 decision while for a U.S. policy to curb Chinese Internet censorship enforcement by restricting U.S. corporations from selling Internet surveillance and censorship technology to Beijing. Mancuso and Lippman received octofinalist awards for their performance. Mancuso was also recognized for his outstanding persuasive speaking skills and was ranked sixth speaker.
Coach Jim Maritato seemed happy with the team's success as he stated, "It's fantastic that they are able to achieve this level of success at their second debate tournament. Approaching debate for the first time isn't easy and they have proven themselves to be quick learners." Maritato hopes that Lippman and Mancuso's ability to adapt quickly to first time encounters with opposing arguments will contribute to a continuance of the team's success. The Marist debate team will appear next at Bard College at the beginning of the Winter '06 semester.
On October 21-22, 2005, the Marist policy debate team competed at the United States Military Academy at West Point. The tournament featured a series of firsts for Marist. Debaters Chris Arena and Chris Kozak returned and moved up from the junior varsity division to compete in the open division for the first time this year. Marist also debuted the new Novice debaters; Freshmen debaters Margeaux Lippman, Alfie Mancuso, Mike Grabowski, and Chris Wieland attended their very first debate tournaments.
While Marist did not advance into elimination rounds, their prelim records were impressive for debaters working within new environments. Arena and Kozak suffered early losses to teams from Towson University,Liberty University and Cornell University before ralling to win their next three debates against SUNY Binghamton and NYU. Coach Jim Maritato expressed confidence that Arena and Kozak would begin to excel, commenting that given the relative lack of experience in varsity debate the two debaters did well.
Marist's novice debaters also seemed to take well to new experiences. Lippman and Mancuso finished prelim rounds with a record of 3 wins and 3 losses. The pair lost early roundsto teams from George Mason and the University of Vermont before rallying to win their next three debates against another team from UVM, NYU and Calrion. Lippman and Mancuso were defeated in their last round by Liberty University. Debaters Mike Grabowski and Chris Wieland finished the tournament with a record of 2-4, suffering losses at the hands of three tough Cornell University teams as well as a team NYU. Wieland and Grabowski defeated two teams from the University of Vermont. Despite their losing record in preliminary rounds, Wieland was recognized as the 10th of novice speakers at the tournament, exemplifying outstanding speaking skills at his very first tournament. Marist will compete next at Harvard over Halloween weekend against many of the toughest teams traveling the national circuit. Varsity debaters Chris Kozak, Chris Arena, Christie Melton and Mike Cox will represent Marist in competition.
The Marist College Policy Debate Team opened its competitive season at the SUNY Buffalo Annual Debate Tournament, October 1-2. Marist debaters Chris Arena and Chris Kozak made a phenomenal showing against tough competition advancing to the semifinals in the Junior Varsity division. Arena returns to the Marist Debate Team as a Junior this year, while Kozak joins Marist after four years of high school debate in Monticello, NY.
Kozak and Arena earned a record of 4-2 in their pre-elimination rounds, defeating teams from the University of Rochester, Case Western Reserve University, and the University of Buffalo. They advanced to quarterfinals without debating, where they defeated West Point. In semifinals, they faced off against the University of Vermont's top Junior Varisty contenders and lost on a tough 2-1 decision.
In addition to Arena and Kozak's joint efforts and competitive success, Kozak was also recognized for his speaking prowess and performance, bringing home the Top Speaker Award for the Junior Varsity division. Kozak's speaking performance was unmatched at the tournament and aided critically in Kozak and Arena's run to the semifinals, placing them as the fourth seed in the division.
The tournament was attended by schools from throughout the Northeast, including Cornell, West Point, SUNY Binghamton, SUNY Buffalo, SUNY Rochester, University of Vermont, Case Western Reserve University, West Virginia University, and local Hudon Valley neighbors, Bard College. The issue debated was the Cross Examination Debate Association's resolution for the 2005-2006 school year -- "Resolved: The United States Federal Government should increase diplomatic and economic pressure on the People's Republic of China in one or more of the following areas: Trade, Human Rights, Weapons Proliferation, Taiwan." Marist's next showing will be at the United States Military Academy at West Point on October 21-23, where the squad looks to introduce its new novice debaters to the debate community as well as continue Kozak and Arena's competitive success.
