The University of Iowa debate team was crowned the national champion in March, winning finals of the Cross Examination Debate Association’s National Championship on a 6-3 decision.

“As a coach, you teach your team how to compete and hope to position them to succeed,” says Paul Bellus, coordinator of forensics at UI. “Their performance deserves all the credit. Watching them execute was exciting.”

The accomplishment by debate partners Spencer Anderson-McElligott and Grey Parfenoff marked a 13th national title for the A. Craig Baird Debate Forum since its first in 1989.

“Debate is an intellectually rigorous competition, one team wins but an entire squad participates," Anderson-McElligott says. "Our success is made possible because our teammates and coaches put in the time. We all work together to make each other more competitive.”

The national tournament took place March 20—23 at Rutgers University with 87 of the nation’s top teams in attendance. Anderson-McElligott and Parfenoff finished preliminary rounds with a 6-1 record before advancing to double octofinals as the fourth seed.

Also attending the championship were UI debaters Benjamin Kleinman and Lillian Severson, who reached elimination rounds before ceding a win to Anderson-McElligot and Parfenoff.

Iowa finished the season with four partnerships ranked in the nation’s top 20: Anderson-McElligott and Parfenoff (national champions), while Rose Bilicki and Nathan Weimar finished fifth in the nation. Kleinman and Severson tied with Virti Patel and Charles Sanderson for 17th.

“This is the first time in Iowa Debate’s history that four teams finished the season ranked in the top 20,” says debate coach Tyler Snelling. “It’s an impressive reminder of the depth of student talent on Iowa’s debate team and their dedication to continual improvement throughout the year.”

The A. Craig Baird Debate Forum is a unit of the UI's University College, and home to the intercollegiate debate team and other programs.