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14 February 2006

18-0 - HITCHCOCK & LANDSMAN-ROOS WIN BINGHAMTON TOURNAMENT WITH A CLEAN SWEEP
Squad posts winning record; many others win recognition

| Tired after a Sunday of 15 hours of debating, Nick & Jason are triumphant |

| Justin Brown & Ethan Backus | Emily Sanders & judging award |

| Brady Fletcher & Stephanie Kimerer | Leslie Keller & Megan Harlow |

As the Lawrence Debate Union's fundraising drive continues, the weekend tournament in Binghamton made it clear that the LDU is something worth investing in because it creates opportunities for UVM students to demonstrate their excellence. The performance of two juniors, Nick Landsman-Roos and Jason Hitchcock, in the varsity division was certainly excellent and something to remember. In six preliminary debates they were 6-0. After receiving a bye in octafinals (and three automatic ballots according to CEDA rules) because they were the #1 seed, they continued their march through the elimination rounds. In the quarterfinals they were negative and defeated New York University 3-0, with the ballots coming in very quickly. In the semifinal debate they were affirmative against the highly touted Cornell team and dispatched them on a quick 3-0 decision as well. This set up a rematch with the University of Rochester team that was 5-1 in the prelims, losing only to Nick and Jason in round six. This time Rochester was affirmative, and a well-researched and executed strategy also brought in three quick ballots for Vermont. In eleven debates won by Nick and Jason they received all eighteen possible ballots from the judges. "This tournament was a warm-up for the upcoming regional championship tournament and the NDT qualifying tournament for teams from New York and New England," noted LDU director Snider, "and Nick and Jason made it clear that they are the ones to aim for. Debates can be so close that for one team to be that dominant throughout a tournament is very difficult. But, they did it." Asked why they are having such success, Snider was quick with an answer. "They are extremely prepared, they work very hard, and frankly Justin and Helen (Morgan Parmetts, the LDU star coaches) always have a surprise for our opponents, and Nick and Jason take advantage of that."
A number of students received speaker awards for top individual performances. Jason Hitchcock was seventh in the varsity division, while in the novice division Justin Brown was third, Danielle Goldschneider was eighth, Ethan Backus was ninth and Taylor Lalemand was tenth. This was an exceptionally strong showing by the novice debaters.
In the varsity division a number of JV eligible teams did very well. Megan Harlow and Leslie Keller reached the quarterfinal round before losing to West Point 2-1. Shane Clark and Chase Whiting were 3-3 along with Brady Fletcher and Stephanie Kimerer. First year students Jeffrey Wilson and Sumeet Sharma continued their trial by fire in the varsity division and went 2-4 with no shame. In the junior varsity division a team of novices, Matt Jokajtys and Sam Lavallee, made the elimination rounds and lost in the quarterfinals 3-0. In novice Mandy Frank and Alex Thibault were 4-1 before losing in the quarterfinals 2-1 and Danielle Goldschneider and Taylor Lalemand lost 3-0 in the quarterfinals. Justin Brown and Ethan Backus were 2-3. This rounded out a first level of elimination rounds that was the only real dark spot in the tournament, where UVM was 0-4 in the first elimination round, excluding the bye to Nick and Jason. "All of these teams were in their first elimination round," noted Snider, "so next time they will do much better. I was especially impressed by the performance of Mandy Frank at her first debate tournament having a record of 4-1 in prelims and the way Alex Thibault has been so determined that he is now making impressive progress. I look for even better things to come from this group."
One additional award was given to LDU coach and judge Emily Sanders who was recognized as one of the two most helpful judges at the tournament. Congratulations to Emily.
"We finally has a .500+ weekend," noted Snider. "It is hard to break 50% when the majority of our teams are debating in a higher division than they are supposed to be in, so this weekend's performance, with six of the ten teams debating up a division and then having five of them reach the elimination rounds along with a 33-29 record is very impressive."

FUNDRAISING DRIVE CONTINUES

Contributions began to appear in the mailbox at Huber House. Numerous alumni have contacted us about making a contribution soon, but checks arrived from Katherine (Koller) Tosi, who described debate as "the longest love of my life" and also from Abbey Trebilcock and Jake Ricker-Gilbert. All amounts are welcome, every bit helps, and every penny will be well-spent.
Alumni are encouraged to contribute $400, which will be used to buy a plane ticket to CEDA Nationals in Dallas. Don't make them stay at home when they should be debating!
Meetings are being held with the Vermont Community Foundation to enable alumni to make larger gifts that will become an endowment to support Vermont Debate that will be housed at VCF.
Please make checks payable to "UVM Debate." You can mail them to Lawrence Debate Union, 475 Main Street, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405.
Gifts can now be made online at https://alumni.uvm.edu/giving/support.asp , but please make sure to designate your gift for "Debate."
If you would like to talk about a major gift or a bequest you should contact Randy Wilson who is our contact in Development, and you can contact him by phone - Desk: 802/656-4253, Cell: 802/598-3961, Toll Free: 888/458-8691, Fax: 802/656-8678, or by e-mail: randy.wilson@uvm.edu.

FLASHPOINT TELEVISION

Watch Flashpoint from your computer screen whenever you want! You will need RealPlayer installed on your computer to become a part of our growing audience. Here are some recent programs now available at http://debate.uvm.edu/flashpoint.html. Watch on Burlington Channel 15 Tuesday 12:30 PM, Thursday 10 PM, Saturday 1 PM.
Next taping: February 18, Sat., meet at 2 PM. Topics to be announced. Look for a discussion on the listserv.
Zoe Anderson is the topic and program coordinator.

SQUAD MEETS AT 6 PM EACH MONDAY NIGHT, 475 MAIN STREET, ALL WELCOME!

ALWAYS CALL IT HUBER HOUSE!