Posted by Mary Wimberley on 2011-09-22

 

Samford University varsity debaters Dan Bagwell and Jacob Lewis returned from their first competition of the season with the highest showing posted by a Samford team in the 13-year history of the Georgia State National Debate Tournament.

The Samford duo defeated a top 32-ranked team from Towson University on a 3-0 decision in the first elimination round to advance to the Sweet Sixteen, where they lost 2-1  to a Gonzaga University team they had defeated in preliminary rounds.

Bagwell and Lewis had claimed 6 out of 7 wins in preliminary rounds to go into elimination rounds ranked fifth of the 132 teams at the tournament, held Sept. 17-19 in Atlanta, Ga.

Bagwell was named 6th best speaker among 264 individual speakers at the tournament.  This is the first time a Samford debater has been ranked among the top 10 speakers at this season-opening tournament, according to debate coach Abi Williams.

Bagwell is a senior journalism/mass communication major from Blakely, Ga. Lewis is a senior history major from Monticello, Fla.

 

 
Samford is a leading Christian university offering undergraduate programs grounded in the liberal arts with an array of nationally recognized graduate and professional schools. Founded in 1841, Samford is the 87th-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. The Wall Street Journal ranks Samford 1st nationally for student engagement and U.S. News & World Report ranks Samford 66th in the nation for best undergraduate teaching and 104th nationally for best value. Samford enrolls 5,683 students from 47 states and 19 countries in its 10 academic schools: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy and public health. Samford fields 17 athletic teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference, and ranks 6th nationally for its Graduation Success Rate among all NCAA Division I schools.