Whitman's Olney & Blank Eye Third Straight NW CEDA Title
WALLA WALLA, Wash. -- Whitman College seniors Charles Olney and Thad Blank will be gunning for their third consecutive Northwest Cross Examination Debate Association (CEDA) championship this weekend when the annual tournament comes to the Whitman campus for the first time in more than a decade.
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| Whitman's debate program hopes to add to its trophy collection this weekend. Seated is debate coach Jim Hanson, surrounded by (from left) asst. coach Brian Simmonds and policy debaters Gareth Campbell and Charles Olney. |
Olney and Blank, both majoring in politics at Whitman, have dominated the Northwest policy debate circuit for the past two years. They enter this week's tournament riding a "winning streak" of 40 straight victories in debate competitions held in the states of Washington and Oregon. Their last loss at a regional tournament came in September 2001.
The tournament field this weekend features about 20 two-person debate teams from a total of eight schools. Competition begins at 4 p.m. Friday and continues through Sunday's quarterfinal, semifinal and championship rounds.
Most debates will take place on the third floor of Olin Hall. The second floor lobby in Olin will serve as tournament headquarters.
If Olney and Blank win their third consecutive Northwest CEDA title this weekend, it will mark the fifth time in six years that a Whitman team has captured the title.
Whitman's Sean Harris and Adam Symonds won the tournament in the spring of 1998. After Harris graduated that spring, Symonds returned the next year to win the tournament with a new partner, Jessica Clarke.
Olney and Blank, who placed third in the CEDA National Championships last spring, won the prestigious Dartmouth College Round Robin Tournament in January. This year's national championships take place later this month at Arizona State University.
While Olney and Blank are the favorites in this weekend's tournament, the field includes a number of teams capable of winning the title, Whitman debate coach Jim Hanson said. "Each of the schools in the tournament, in fact, have at least one team strong enough to win it."
Gonzaga University has five teams entered, including its No. 1 duo, Chris Losnegard and Eric Sullivan. Southern Illinois University and Emporia State University also have strong teams entered.
"Even though this is the Northwest CEDA Championship tournament, there are times when teams from outside the region enter," Hanson said. "The field is actually a little smaller this year because a few Northwest schools are not sending teams."
Others schools with at least one team competing this weekend are Western Washington University, Lewis & Clark College, University of Puget Sound, and Sacramento State University.
With six entries, Whitman has the most teams competing. In addition to Olney and Blank, other teams include senior David Guidry and sophomore Beth Schueler, and junior Emily Marr and first-year student Kyle Krohn. The remaining teams, comprised of first-year students, are Eric Suni and Nav Rekhi, Gareth Campbell and Jeff Buntin, and Katherine Bergh and Alex Bollinger.
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