The Barton Community College debate team members landed several top spots against stout competition on Dec. 1, when they traveled to Webster University in St. Louis, Mo., to compete in the 26th Annual Webster Classic. Featuring competitors from 11 universities, the tournament proved to be a difficult hurdle in the Cougars’ season.
“We traditionally see a lot of Midwestern schools at these tournaments,” Barton Director of Debate JD Smith said. “This year the pool was a lot bigger.”
The freshman team of Nicole Bruner and Darren Kootz-Eades  proved Barton is ready to swim in deeper waters, bringing home fourth place overall on a 3-1 record.
“We lost to Georgia in the first round – a tough one,” Bruner said, “but we knew we were better than that.”
Picking up their next three rounds with high speaker points, the Cougars ousted McKendree University, Webster University and Crowder College to round off their tournament in the final four. Bruner was also declared the Tournament Champion Speaker, taking first place in all four rounds.
Kootz-Eades walked away 13th speaker overall out of over 50 competitors. The Cougars will continue their season in the spring semester Jan. 25-26 at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.