Debate competed in the International Public Debate Association National Championship Tournament on April 10-13, at Middle Tennessee State University, and came in third for the Overall Sweepstakes. The IPDA is the largest collegiate debate organization in the nation, and this year it included 52 schools.

“This year especially, we have a young group,” said Ritchie. “My hope was that we were going to make it to the top five. They proved they were powerful.”

Ritchie said there are two ways in which schools can be named national champions: through the IDPA tournament and through the season-long debate, in which schools accumulate points across tournaments held throughout the year.

“For us, we went to eight tournaments, so our top six tournaments go into our numbers,” said Ritchie. “And within that, you have your individual champions in the divisions.”

The debate team is the oldest organization on campus, getting its start in 1907– one year after the university was founded. Once the university dropped its requirement of having all students participate in the debate society, it became an organization in 1926, said Ritchie. This year, the debate team celebrates its 100th year on campus.

With their third-place finish in the overall sweepstakes, the team has maintained a top-five placement for the past five consecutive years.

Ritchie said that the team’s growing success can be attributed to the students’ inner drive.

“Even though we graduate people, every year the students that are here learn from those that are older,” said Ritchie. “They see the legacy of those behind them, and they want to achieve it. Also, debaters are incredibly driven people.”

Aside from coming in third nationally, the team ranked fifth in the season-long ranking, out of 184 schools.

Guitzkow competed at the national level for the first time, marking about a year and a half since he started debating.

“[The competition] was exhausting, entertaining, and one of the most rewarding things that I’ve ever done,” said Guitzkow.

Csoma had participated in IDPA tournaments before arriving at ACU through his community college. This was his fifth year going to nationals, and his second time getting to finals in a team division. Csoma said prepping is critical for a successful debate.

“Prepping is hard, but it’s also a learned skill,” said Csoma. “I can look at a resolution, and without looking at anything about the topic, we can get a general understanding of ‘here’s what we’re going to be talking about and here’s what we need to focus on to win the round.’”

Preparation for nationals goes beyond their weekly practices.

“Reading the news is one thing that we do that helps us a lot, and then obviously practicing,” said Guitzkow. “We run two to three rounds per week, I would say of individual and team rounds. We do a lot of debate even when not in tournaments.”

Each team receives thirty minutes of preparation before the round begins. During that time, the teams and their opponents take turns striking the five topics given to narrow it down to a final topic.

“We have to make lots of quick judgments about what we think is good for our side versus bad for our side,” said Csoma. “Just getting to the right topic is half the battle.”

Throughout the tournament, the team had ten different topics. Media coverage in politics doing more harm than good to democracy was one of the topics they had to negate in their final round.

“That was just an unreal performance from both of us,” said Csoma. “Over time, you have to build that trust, where it’s like ‘I know whatever [Guitzkow] is about to say, is in the best interest of our team.’”

The duo took home the first-place title for Team Debate, beating the other 80 teams that competed. Guitzkow and Csoma both said that the awards part was their favorite aspect of the competition, despite how nerve-racking it was.

“After we finished the final round, I felt that I had put forth the best debate that I could have,” said Guitzkow. “And if [our opponent] were going to win even through that, then they deserved it.”

Guitzkow said that participating in debate helped provide him with valuable skills.

“I’ve been recruiting for investment banking for a while, and I got my internship in March,” said Guitzkow. “Probably like fifty percent of that was debate because it teaches you how to coherently speak even when you don’t know everything about what you’re talking about.”

Along with learning academic skills, Guitzkow said debate also taught him how to be a team player.

“For team debate specifically, it’s benefited both of us in learning to humble ourselves and being able to recognize that on one topic, another person might be better suited for the job, step back and let them take lead,” said Guitzkow.

Csoma attributes his success to his experience with debate.

“My success in a lot of those things is because of debate,” said Csoma. “Being able to be confident in the things that I say– it teaches us to be an advocate for what we believe in, no matter what.”

Guitzkow and Csoma are thankful for the donations they’ve received and for the support from their team.

“This wouldn’t have been possible without the support from the university, and especially the support from our coaches and our teammates,” said Csoma. “We are one piece of the puzzle when it comes to the ACU debate team.”