Alan Hoskins
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
College Advancement
Kansas City Kansas Community College’s record-setting national champion debate team is right back at it.
With five consecutive championships under their belts (no other community college has ever won more than three in a row), Coach Darren Elliott’s Blue Devil team entered the Spring Semester ranked the No. 1 community college team in the nation as it goes in search of sixth straight titles in two competitions.
There are two national championships – the Cross Examination Debate Association (CEDA) in which both two and four-year colleges compete and which Elliott is the national president; and the Phi Rho Pi community college debate association which is open only to two-year colleges. Elliott is Regional Governor for Phi Rho Pi covering the states of Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri.
National rankings are determined by the success of community colleges in competition in CEDA tournaments in which more than 90 percent of the competitors are on teams from four-year colleges and universities.
Leading this year’s strong showing have been sophomores Noah Fugate of Tonganoxie, Charlie Clark of Olathe North and Miranda Nichols of Lansing and freshman Mike Slinkerd of Blue Springs South. Novice debaters include Liz Smith of Wyandotte, Keith Jones of Sumner Academy and Chris Kasckow of Bonner Springs. All are freshmen.
Nichols and Fugate took third and Thomas and Slinkerd fourth in the Augustana Tournament while Fugate and Slinkerd tied for fourth with Clark and Thomas in the Baylor tournament and fifth at the University of Texas-Dallas Tournament. In addition, Clark and Fugate tied for fifth in the North Texas Tournament.
In individual speaking competition at Augustana, Thomas finished third, Slinkerd sixth and Nichols ninth.
Upcoming tournaments include Kansas State, the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, UMKC and Johnson County, which is ranked No. 2 behind KCKCC in the national rankings. This year’s CEDA national tournament will be held at Idaho State. Phi Rho Pi will hold its national tournament in Portland, Ore.