Post updated at 6:20 p.m. Tuesday, April 8:
KU Debate’s pair of Graham Revare and John Marshall, a Free State High School alum, finished as runners-up at the National Debate Tournament, capping off a season that saw the duo cement themselves as one of the best teams in the country.
Revare and Marshall entered the tournament in Spokane, Washington as the top seed and unanimous No. 1-ranked team in the nation — an honor they earned after a stellar season that included multiple tournament wins across the country.
They endured eight rounds of prelim debate, winning seven and claiming the top spot in the bracket rounds, where they defeated teams from Michigan, Wake Forrest and Dartmouth on the way to the finals.
There, they ran into a team from Binghamton, who defeated the Jayhawks on a close 3-2 decision — a result that was announced around 2 a.m. Tuesday after hours of grueling debate.
“I am so proud of these two incredible debaters and of the entire squad and coaching staff that worked so hard at the tournament and throughout the season,” KU debate coach Brett Bricker said in a KU news release.
Marshall said it takes a lot of work to compete at a national level and seeing the hard work translate into success is one of the most rewarding parts of debate.
He said it was special to represent Kansas on a big stage. He and Revare both developed their love for debate as Kansas high schoolers, Marshall said. During his time at Free State, Marshall and his partner, Serena Rupp, won the Tournament of Champions, widely considered the most prestigious high school debate title.
“Representing KU debate has always been a dream of mine, since I’ve lived in Lawrence my whole life,” he said.
Marshall said he and Revare think about debate the same way, which helped their partnership flourish.
“I could talk forever about how great of a debater, partner and person Graham is. He is constantly working on debate and cares so much about the success not just of us two but the whole Kansas team,” he said.
This was the second straight season KU has sent a team to the final round of the National Debate Tournament. Last year, Revare partnered with Will Soper and the duo finished second in the country.
This year, Revare won the coveted top individual speaker award and Marshall finished as the fifth best speaker.
“This was another amazing season for KU Debate and John and Graham deserve recognition as one of the greatest teams in the history of the program,” said Scott Harris, the David B. Pittaway director of KU Debate. “They are not only extremely talented but exhibit class and character in every debate.”
Marshall and Revare weren’t the only Jayhawk debaters who had success at the tournament.
Rose Larson and Luna Schultz finished in the top 16 and both claimed individual speaker awards: Larson was named the 6th speaker and Schultz was named the 13th.
A pair of Free State grads, Ethan Harris and Jacob Wilkus, finished as one of the top 28 teams in the country.
This was the fourth time in program history KU had all three of its teams qualify for the elimination rounds.
If our local journalism matters to you, please help us keep doing this work.
Don’t miss a beat … Click here to sign up for our email newsletters
Click here to learn more about our newsletters first
Cuyler Dunn (he/him), a contributor to The Lawrence Times since April 2022, is a student at the University of Kansas School of Journalism. He is a graduate of Lawrence High School where he was the editor-in-chief of the school’s newspaper, The Budget, and was named the 2022 Kansas High School Journalist of the Year. Read his complete bio here. Read more of his work for the Times here.
Latest Lawrence news:
Tricia Masenthin/Lawrence Times
August Rudisell/Lawrence Times
