MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) – A debate team from Kansas State will get no argument about being the best in the country.

Beth Mendenhall and Derek Ziegler won the national championship at the 2011 Cross-Examination Debate Association’s national tournament. The competition, which concluded Tuesday in Binghamton, N.Y., involved 139 teams from 50 schools.

The debaters defeated a team from Towson University to claim the university’s third national debate championship since 1991. Mendenhall, a senior in political science and philosophy from Olathe, was also named debater of the year. Ziegler is a junior in political science and philosophy from Topeka.

The Kansas State team of Megan Hallinan of Lansing and Caitlyn Reynolds of Manhattan, finished 17th overall.