The championship is the largest tournament (by field size) that Bates has won, possibly since the University of Pennsylvania in 1994, certainly since early 1995, and only the second tournament of any size since 2005. The winning pair was seeded 4th overall heading into the break, and won the final round as the second government team supporting the motion, "This House would allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons." 

The championship victory also marked the first time that Etnire and Mahmud had broken at a varsity level in any tournament, after accumulating only novice breaks last year as freshmen.

Vermont was the first British Parliamentary (BP) style tournament that any of the four breaking debaters had taken place in, and their first practice rounds in the style occurred less than a week prior to the tournament. British style is different from American style in that the motions are "closed" (determined by those who run the tournament, rather than the debaters themselves) and that four teams are in each round instead of two. BP is the style used in all major international competitions.

All three pairs were sent to UVM in preparations for international debating. UVM was the first stop in the prep cycle, with Yale's IV tournament in late October, the Oxford and Cambridge championships in the middle of November, and finally the World Championships hosted by Koc University in southern Turkey at the end of the year.