(left to right) Independence Community College Debate Team, freshman Kailynn Wade, freshman Lizzie Banda, sophomore Maddy O’Rourke, and sophomore Sebastian Henderson
Independence, Kansas—March 12, 2018 – The Independence Community College’s (ICC) Speech and debate team traveled to Conway, Arkansas this weekend to compete at the University of Central Arkansas’ (UCA) “Hi-BEAR-Nation” tournament, where ICC’s Maddy O’Rourke and Sebastian Henderson advanced to the tournament’s elimination rounds.
O’Rourke went 4-4 in the qualifying rounds, earning her a spot in elimination rounds as the number 14 seed. She finished the day as an Octo-Finalist, losing to Bossier Parish Community College, the only other community college in the tournament.
“I am extremely proud of Maddy,” said ICC debate coach, Brad Henderson. “She is a fierce competitor, and the level of talent at this tournament is by far the toughest she has ever faced, and she did admirably.”
O’Rourke posted victories against: Louisiana State University, Alexandria (LSUA), Louisiana Tech University (LTU), Northwestern State University (NSU), and Lee College.
Sebastian Henderson went 5-3 in the qualifying rounds, but due to a judge’s error, he did not get the chance to compete in the elimination rounds.
Henderson’s five victories came against: Southern Methodist University (SMU), LTU, Jackson State University (JSU), Louisiana State University, Shreveport (LSUS), and John Brown University (JBU).
“I feel bad for Sebastian because he had such an amazing day,” said Coach Henderson. “I think if it hadn’t been for the mistake by a judge, he might have advanced deep into the elimination rounds.”
The mistake came on a ballot where all of the comments and scoring broke in Henderson’s favor, who was arguing the negative side of the resolution, but the judge mistakenly circled the other debater as the winner.
Upon review of the ballots, the tournament officials admitted the mistake, and issued an apology to ICC.
In an email to Henderson, the UCA tournament coordinator, Anthony McMullen, J.D., wrote,
“There is a minor ambiguity on the ballot. (The judge circled ‘Affirmative,’ but all other indications on the ballot indicated that it should have been ‘Negative.’) This is what likely led to the error. Still, it was a mistake, for which I apologize.”
Coach Henderson, accepted the apology and was grateful for the chance to compete at the UCA tournament.
“Nothing takes away from the fact that we came into this tournament as the smallest school and went toe-to-toe with some very big universities and came away with some wins” said Henderson. “Everyone on this team should be proud of what they accomplished at this tournament.”
Lizzie Banda, an international student from Zimbabwe and a freshman at ICC, posted two wins in her very first debate tournament. Banda’s victories came against and SMU and LSUA.
Other Universities competing in this tournament included the University of Tennessee, Arkansas Tech University, Drury University, Henderson State University, Liberty University, Middle Tennessee State University, and the University of Southern Mississippi.