UNL debate team wins first-ever national championship

LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) - The University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s debate team has made history winning their first-ever national championship.

UNL’s debate team has been around since 1871. The team not only broke records in Illinois, but they brought home the trophy.

The team competed for four days at Illinois State University in the Lincoln-Douglas style of debate at the Nation Forensic Association’s National Tournament.

UNL brought 10 debaters to the competition, the most qualifiers of any team participating. The topic they each had to argue was counter-terrorism operations in the U.S.

“Together our points formed our team performance and we managed to outperform all the other schools there and take home the trophy for the first time in 151 years of Nebraska debate,” said freshman Zach Wallenburg.

Six Huskers had winning records and made it to the elimination rounds. Junior Nicholas Wallenburg, a quarter finalist and ninth overall speaker, said the tournament was an opportunity for the team to prove themselves.

“It was really fun to kind of show up and really show out and show that Nebraska is good at what we do and we’re the best at debate this year,” said Nicholas.

Sophmore Azza Elhaj, a semifinalist of the tournament, said hours of preparation and counter arguments helped them get the job done.

“The team spent a lot of time throughout the entire semester prepping out a lot of research, doing a lot of answering back to arguments,” Elhaj said. “Like at nationals we had an answer to almost every single argument any team could possibly run. Whatever they had we already had files prepared for ready to debate.”

Justin Kirk, UNL’s debate coach, said he never doubted the team’s ability to bring home the trophy.

“I’m incredibly lucky I get 1,000 opportunities every year to coach these kids and every single one of them makes me proud every time they walk into a debate room,” Kirk said.

Kirk said this was the fifth year in a row where the team finished in the top five in the nation, and the 12th year of finishing in the top 15.