Debate Team’s Season Off to Convincingly Strong Start

The University of Texas at Dallas debate team is quickly making the case that it will have one of its best seasons in recent years after strong performances at a trio of national tournaments this fall.

During the season-opening Owen L. Coon Memorial Debate Tournament at Northwestern University on Sept. 17-19, the team of business administration senior Ari Karchmer and economics junior Rahul Penumetcha reached the elimination debates after finishing the preliminary rounds with a 5-3 record.

"We had notable victories over Baylor University, Emory University, the University of Southern California and Dartmouth College," said Scott Herndon, UTD director of debate. "Assistant director Erik Mathis and assistant coach Sam Gustavson have spent months helping prepare the team for the upcoming season."

In the round of 32, Karchmer and Penumetcha lost to No. 2 seed Harvard University 2-1.

The team of healthcare management senior Mahintha Karthik and history junior Adrian Sendejas and the team of mechanical engineering freshman Sabarish Ravi Anikode and economics freshman Charlie Hale both had records of 4-4 at the tournament.

At the JW Patterson Debates hosted by the University of Kentucky on Sept. 28-30, Karchmer and Penumetcha tied for ninth out of 106 teams. They finished 4-2 in the preliminaries and advanced to round 16 before losing to top seed Kansas University. Penumetcha also earned an individual award as the 13th overall speaker out of more than 200 competitors.

Karthik and Sendejas won the University of Houston College Tournament, which featured 18 teams and was held Oct. 12-14. They finished 5-1 in the preliminaries with victories over Kansas State University, Liberty University and the U.S. Military Academy. In the elimination debates, Karthik and Sendejas won all of their matchups with 3-0 decisions, including their final-round victory over Trinity College. Karthik was the top individual speaker, and Sendejas was the fourth overall speaker.

The debate team will compete in tournaments at Wayne State University and Harvard before finishing the fall portion of its schedule at the Franklin R. Shirley Classic, which begins Nov. 16 at Wake Forest University.