Samantha Sallee and Ben Davis may have started their Ball State University Debate careers for different reasons but they both ended them as national champions.
The seniors were part of a team of about 20 debaters crowned the nation's best April 18 in Washington, D.C.
Coach Mike Bauer said the competition consisted of seven schools divided into 40 teams. Ball State won the event last year and finished among the top contenders in previous years.
Davis said he first joined the Ball State team because he wanted to get better at public speaking, while Sallee said she wanted to try something different.
Having gone to nationals before, both seniors said this year's competition was different because each team had winning performances at previous tournaments. Since the event was in the nation's capital, the captains said it added a lot to their last senior competition.
"I think the atmosphere was more exciting because everyone was off their home turf," Sallee said. "The fact that is was in D.C. I think just made us all want to show up and have something to prove."
Bauer said each student puts in more than 10 hours a week into practice and preparation for tournaments and the team had been training for nationals since January. The 2009 Cardinal team had many different majors and backgrounds competing and that led to its success, Davis said. Sallee attributed the championship to the way Ball State taught the team to debate to the public and explain to the common person.
"We put in more work so we came out on top," Davis said.
Since there are only seven teams, Sallee said the debaters have seen each other a few different times before and are used to each other's tendencies.
"Everyone brought their 'A' game to nationals," Sallee said. "Once you get to that point you know the caliber of debater you're up against, you're more alert and quicker to point out their weakness."
Bauer said it has been very fulfilling and rewarding to see the students' growth.
"There are two types of motivation - winning and losing," Sallee said. "We've done our fair share of both, but at the end of last semester we started to get successful and that got us ready for nationals."
Sallee and Davis said accepting the trophy in a room full of their peers was great, but it meant even more to them as seniors.
"Ball State has a legacy in debate," Sallee said. "It's pretty awesome to say I was a part of this and part of the reason why it succeeded."
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