University of Mary Washington seniors Colin McElhinny and Thomas Pacheco have received a first round at-large bid to the 2014 National Debate Tournament (NDT), to be held at Indiana University from March 28 through 31.

Thomas Pacheco ’14 (left) and Colin McElhinny ’14 are headed to the 2014 National Debate Tournament.

McElhinny and Pacheco competed at nine tournaments this season, including at Harvard, Dartmouth and Wake Forest, placing in the top three at three of them. Most recently, they competed at the University of Texas tournament which fielded more than 150 teams.

This year, 16 pairs of debaters received first round bids to the NDT, based on their performance at tournaments during the regular season. The other bid recipients include teams from Berkeley, Georgetown, Harvard, Kansas, Michigan, Michigan State, Northwestern, Oklahoma, Rutgers, Towson, Wake Forest and West Georgia.

“We are very proud of Colin and Tom’s accomplishment,” said Adrienne F. Brovero, director of debate at UMW. “This is Colin’s second bid and Tom’s first. It is the fourth time in the last six years we have been recognized by our peers in the debate community as one of the top 16 teams going into the National Debate Tournament.”

This weekend, other members of the UMW Debate Team will compete at the National Debate Tournament district qualifier. After that, the team will compete at the American Debate Association Nationals at Liberty University, followed by multiple public debate competitions throughout the region. For updates from the competitions, follow UMW Debate on Twitter.