The Cavalier daily :: Thursday, December 10, 1970 :: University of Virginia Library

The varsity team of third yearman
Greg Bittner and fourth yearman Jim Poe
has qualified for elimination rounds in
two of its last three tournaments and
missed very narrowly at the third.

Finished Fourth

Three weeks ago at the Wake Forest
Dixie Classic the team finished fourth
seed of 86 teams from the East coast. Mr. Poe
was named sixth speaker of the 172 individual
debaters. The University's team was eliminated
in a 2-1 loss to Georgetown University in the
Octa-finals.

Over the Thanksgiving vacation the team
attended the Georgetown National Invitational
which drew 148 teams from 94 schools
throughout the nation. The varsity unit finished
well into the top fifth with a 5-3 record, one
win short of qualifying.

Ohio State Tournament

Last weekend the debaters finished ninth
seed of 106 teams at the Ohio State
Tournament. In the Octa-finals round, the varsity
met the Kansas University team which finished
3rd at last year's National Tournament.

In losing the 2-1 decision the team did gain
some notoriety in that the split decision is only
the fourth ballot Kansas has lost on the
negative in four tournaments.

Novice debaters have been accompanying
the varsity on these trips and, while gaining
invaluable experience, have also managed to
enhance the University's reputation. At Wake
Forest Ken Shuman and Ellen Lewis compiled a
4-4 record, Mr. Shuman and Rick Robot were
3-5 at Georgetown and Miss Lewis and David
McCaskey were 4-4 at Ohio State.

Fine Group

As Mr. Poe, the president of the debaters
noted. "These people are establishing a fine
record debating against varsity units with two
to three times the experience they have. This is
definitely the finest group of novices the debate
program has had in several years."

The debaters close out their fall semester
with a trip to Madison College for an in-state
tournament this weekend.