(Pictured Left to Right: Russell Potter ’15, Nick Hansen ’15, Minnal Kunnan ’15’, Naeem Hossain ’18, George Alukal ’15, Sean Leonard ’16, Quinn Maingi ’15, RUDU alumnus Kyle Bomeisl ’12, RUDU alumnus Adam Bomeisl ’14, Pasha Temkin ’18)
The Rutgers University Debate Union (RUDU) swept the West Point Invitational this weekend, with RUDU wining both Varsity and Novice divisions and making it the third tournament win for RUDU in the 2014-2015 season. A Varsity semi-finals appearance by another RUDU team earned senior Russell Potter qualification for the National Championships. Potter joins Maingi, Leonard, and Kunnan as the 4th member of RUDU to qualify for nationals this year.
Here is the full breakdown of RUDU’s West Point achievements:
Sean Leonard & Quinn Maingi – 1st Team, Tournament Champions
Nick Hansen & Russell Potter – 3rd Team, Semifinalists
Quinn Maingi – 3rd Speaker
Sean Leonard – 5th Speaker
Naeem Hossain & Pasha Temkin – 2nd Novice Team*, Novice Champions
Minnal Kunnan – 2nd Novice Speaker
Naeem Hossain – 7th Novice Speaker
Rutgers had an impressive performance throughout the preliminary rounds of the tournament. The teams of Leonard and Maingi and Hansen and Potter made it through preliminary rounds each with a 5-0 undefeated record, making respectively the 1st and 2nd highest seeds for the Varsity out-round bracket. Hossain and Temkin debuted as a novice pair and proceeded through out rounds to win novice finals even though it was Temkin’s first tournament with RUDU.
RUDU’s accomplishments at West Point continues the team’s yearlong national success. Leonard and Maingi are now ranked 4th in the nation for Team of the Year (TOTY) with each of them also ranked 10th and and 7th in the individual Speaker of the Year (SOTY) rankings. Hansen and Potter also rise in the TOTY rankings as the 43rd ranked team. Kunnan’s novice speaker award lifts him up to 14th place in the running Novice of the Year (NOTY) ranking.
As a team, Rutgers is currently ranked 8th in the College of the Year (COTY) standing, above Princeton and Columbia who round out the bottom of the top ten.
This weekend the debate team kicks off spring break and hopes to continue their success at Franklin and Marshall College’s tournament.
*The 1st Novice Team was automatically awarded to a Novice team that qualified for Varsity out-rounds and thus did not participate in Novice semi-finals or finals
