Marquette’s 2009 Success Continues With Strong Showing at the TOC
Posted on May 17th, 2009 by Bill Batterman (Category: Policy Debate, Results)
On Derby Weekend, the Webster Club traveled to Lexington, Kentucky for the National Tournament of Champions. Hosted by the University of Kentucky every year since 1972, the TOC is debate’s preeminent national championship and one of the most intense experiences of any high school debater’s career.
In order to attend the TOC, a team must qualify by accumulating at least two bids during the regular season. Bids are attained by reaching the designated elimination round at an invitational tournament: the most elite tournaments are qualifiers at the octafinal level while others offer bids to quarterfinalists, semifinalists, or finalists. Marquette’s own Hilltopper Classic is the only tournament in Wisconsin to offer contestants a bid to the TOC.
After failing to qualify last season, Marquette was once again represented at the TOC in 2009 thanks to clutch late season performances by senior Joe Balistreri and sophomore Michael Hoffmann at the Harvard and Maine East tournaments. Marquette closed-out the first TOC in 1972—and remains the only school in the tournament’s history to do so—but the squad has struggled to replicate that success during the ensuring four decades. The Hilltoppers finished as runners-up in 1979 and 1985 but have not reached the elimination rounds since despite qualifying six teams to the tournament in the past decade.
This year, Joe and Michael were intent on ending the school’s elimination round drought. With only the nation’s top 67 teams in the field, this would be no easy task. The entire squad worked hard to prepare for the tournament and we were ably assisted by alum and former coach Andy Nolan and Francisco Bencosme, a debater at Wake Forest University and friend of the program who was hired for the weekend.
Arriving in Lexington late on Thursday night after a long drive, we spent Friday finishing our preparation and resting up for the challenging debates to come.
Saturday morning greeted us with overcast skies and a persistent drizzle, but we arrived at the University ready to go at 6:50AM. In the first round, Joe and Michael were matched up with Mountain Brook (Alabama), another senior-sophomore team and one-half of which had defeated us in the finals of the Woodward Second Year National Championship. This time, we avenged the loss and earned a much-needed round one win.
In round two, we were paired against our close friends and rivals from Woodward Academy (Georgia). We had gone out to dinner with the Woodward squad the previous night and have worked closely with them throughout the season, but they once again got the better of us in a closely-fought round. The loss left us with an 0-3 record against Woodward on the season but more importantly a 1-1 record at the TOC and needing to win four out of our final five debates to clear.
After regrouping during a brief lunch, Joe and Michael got back on the winning track in round three with a win over Salt Lake City West (Utah), a team that had defeated us at this year’s Southern Bell Forum in January. With a 2-1 record, we were then matched up with a tough team from the Kinkaid School (Texas) in round four. Knowing that this was a “must win” debate against one of the nation’s best teams, Joe and Michael debated extremely well and pulled out the victory to finish day one with a 3-1 record.
While the students slept, Mr. Batterman and Francisco spent the night hard at work to prepare for Sunday’s critical rounds. We needed to win only two out of three to clear, but that wouldn’t be easy: those three rounds would undoubtedly be against some of the best teams in the country.
The weather was no better on Sunday morning as we again arrived on campus at the break of dawn. In round five, Joe and Michael were paired against the top team from Bellarmine (California), one of the most talented duos in the country and a team that had won the University of Southern California and Meadows School tournaments as well as their state championship (for the second time). Again at the top of their games, Joe and Michael prevailed to claim one of their biggest wins of the season.
With two prelims to go, Marquette was in great position at 4-1. But two big debates remained.
In round six, we were matched up with the top team from the Bronx High School of Science (New York), the team that had defeated us in the semifinals of Harvard and the quarterfinals of St. Mark’s (but that we had defeated in the prelims of Harvard). Continuing the trend begun at Harvard when we had each broken new affirmatives against one another, they read a new case that provided alternative energy to the Post Office in order to prevent its collapse. After a long deliberation by the judge, Bronx emerged victorious and Joe and Michael stood at 4-2.
Needing to win round seven to clear, we drew the top team from Bishop Guertin (New Hampshire). The consensus number two team in the country, they had recently reached the finals of the NDCA National Championship and had claimed the titles at Blake, New Trier, and Georgetown Day and had consistently been in the late elimination rounds of the major national invitationals. Defending the affirmative, Joe and Michael put up a valiant fight but were unable to pull off the upset to knock Bishop Guertin out of the tournament.
Finishing with a 4-3 record, we fell one win short of ending the school’s elimination round drought. Exhausted and disappointed, we nonetheless had much to be proud of—the teams that we debated accumulated 30 wins during the preliminary rounds, the most opponent wins of any team in the tournament.
Looking back, Joe and Michael could boast wins over an eventual semifinalist and the runner-up; their only losses were to two eventual octafinalists and a quarterfinalist. Had the pairings been different, we almost certainly would have ended the drought. But it was not to be, at least not this year.
With the National Forensic League National Tournament remaining on their schedule, the season did not end for Marquette BH. But even if it had ended, Joe and Michael have put together one of the most impressive seasons in Webster Club history. Since the beginning of February, they have:
- Qualified for NFL Nationals with an undefeated record
- Reached the semifinals of the Harvard National Invitational (Joe 18th Speaker)
- Won the Maine East Regatta (Joe 9th Speaker, Michael 15th Speaker)
- Reached the finals of the Woodward Second Year National Championship (Michael with Jack Mackay)
- Earned the top speaker award at the Woodward Second Year National Championship (Michael)
- Reached the octafinals of the NDCA National Championship (Joe with Ben Benson)
- Earned the 8th speaker award at the NDCA National Championship (Joe)
- Finished 4-3 at the TOC
- Earned wins over the TOC Champions and Runners-Up
And that is certainly something to be proud of. And it is something that the entire Webster Club family—debaters, coaches, parents, and alums—can take pride in. Although the elimination round drought at the TOC will continue for at least another year, this year’s squad is one whose achievements will not soon be forgotten.