MonticelloLive

March Madness took on a whole new twist at the University of Arkansas at Monticello recently.
            No, the Boll Weevils and Cotton Blossoms basketball teams didn’t make the NCAA Tournament, but UAM’s debate and forensic squad captured the 2008 national championship of the International Public Debate Association at the IPDA Championship Tournament March 28-30 at Lee College in Baytown, Tex.
            In competition with colleges and universities from across the country, UAM won the tournament’s sweepstakes award and the Founders Award, emblematic of the best collegiate debate and forensics team for the 2007-08 academic year.
            UAM Debate Coach Scott Kuttenkuler was named the IPDA Coach of the Year.
            “This is a fantastic achievement, not just for our debate team, but for the institution as a whole,” said UAM Chancellor Jack Lassiter. “I know I speak for the entire UAM community when I say how proud I am of our students and what they have done. I also want to congratulate Scott Kuttenkuler and Assistant Coach Jim Evans. The team’s achievement is a reflection of their leadership.”
            UAM set both the individual IPDA Tournament scoring record and the season-long scoring record, won nine tournament championships and sent 10 individual competitors to the elimination rounds of the national tournament. Individually, Joel Brown and Josh Smith were recognized as the top speakers in their respective divisions. Brown, a senior speech major from Monticello, was named best speaker in the open debate division while Smith, a junior speech communication major from McGehee, was named the top speaker in novice debate.
            “We have a tremendous collection of students who have united to make an outstanding team,” said Kuttenkuler. “Not only did this program do something that UAM has never done before, we did things that have never been done by any team in the history of the International Public Debate Association.”
            Seven UAM students won individual awards and 10 advanced through the tournament’s elimination rounds of debate. Individual awards went to Smith as best speaker in novice debate while Ashley Williamson, a senior health and physical education major from Monticello, took fifth place.
            Brooke Flemister, a senior English major from Monticello, and Brian Rauls, a senior speech major from Bearden, took sixth and seventh place respectively in varsity debate. Brown won the open debate speaker competition while Keith Milstead, a graduate student from Little Rock, placed fourth. Chris Halley, a senior speech major from North Little Rock, was fifth.
            In the national tournament’s elimination rounds, Halley advanced to the semifinals. Brown, Milstead, and Rauls advanced to the quarterfinals along with Nicci Norton, a senior speech major from Rison, and Zach Baumgarten, a senior political science major from Monticello. Also advancing to the elimination rounds in the novice division were Smith and Williamson.
            In the season-long category, UAM won not only the Founders Award as best overall, but placed first in varsity debate, and second in both open and novice debate. Milstead won the season award as the best individual in the open debate division while Halley placed fourth.
            In varsity debate, Joel Brown placed second, Lauren Raynor, a senior political science major from Covington, Tenn., was fourth; Halley fifth, Rauls sixth, and Norton10th.
            In novice debate, Smith placed fourth in the season-long standings while Chip Davis, a freshman creative writing English major from Bentonville, was sixth.
            As a team, UAM won 254 total awards during the 2007-08 academic year while maintaining a team grade point average of 3.57 in the fall semester. “Our students have achieved on all fronts,” said Evans. “We worked very hard to achieve not only our competitive goals, but our academic goals.”