McKendree Speech and Debate Team Wins Two Championships, Takes Home Several Awards
(LEBANON, Ill.) – McKendree University’s Speech and Debate team finished the semester with a strong performance, capturing two tournament wins as a team alongside 22 student awards.
The team competed across three separate tournaments, hosted both in-person and virtually, over the weekend of Dec. 5-7. First-year students Cade Braddock and Dawid Boles took on their first-ever National Parliamentary Debate Association (NPDA) tournament alongside first-year Aidan Bradley and sophomore Ari Carney. While the team failed to capture any awards, it marked a big step forward with new students competing in the format.
Next up in the NPDA schedule is McKendree’s home tournament, the “Mound High Swing,” named as a nod to its predecessor the “Mile High Swing,” which was hosted in the Denver area, and to honor the Indigenous traditions of mound-building in the area surrounding Lebanon, Ill. The tournament is one of the standout events of the NPDA season as the first round of invitations for the National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence will be awarded at the conclusion of the weekend.
Across the Mississippi River in Webster Groves, Mo., another group of students competed in an International Public Debate Association tournament, the C. Thomas Preston Study Break Tournament, hosted by Webster University. Every debater took home an even or better recording, recording at least two wins from their four rounds. The team was recognized as the best school in competition, buoyed by second-place finishes in junior varsity by Ava Schmollinger and novice by El Gray. Schmollinger was also recognized as top speaker in her division. Four more McKendree students, Thor Gavin, Tyson Thompson, TJ McCurtis, and Nevaeh Papp, all placed in their divisions and Gray, Zach Roeck, Gavin, and Thompson were recognized as top speakers in their respective divisions.
“The debaters performed well in multiple formats and divisions this weekend,” said Head Coach Brent Nicholson. “It is uncommon for a team to field entries in multiple formats of debate throughout a year, let alone on the same weekend. I take a lot of pride in the way our students adapt to different communication styles and take advantage of every opportunity that we can provide them.”
On Sunday, Dec. 7, the team finished its weekend with competition at the Gateway Speech Tournament, hosted virtually by Webster University. McKendree again won the top award for teams and tallied five first-place finishes, alongside four qualifications to the National Forensics Association’s National Tournament. The team’s first-place finishers were the partnership of Schmollinger and Anna Rose Sheehan in Duo Interpretation, Papp in Prose Interpretation, Sheehan in Impromptu Speaking, Schmollinger in After Dinner Speaking, and Sheehan in Communication Analysis. Sheehan finished second in overall individual performance and Schmollinger finished third. In addition to the bevy of first-place finishes, the team recorded a third-place finish in Poetry Interpretation by Schmollinger, fourth-place finishes by Gracie Vincent in Prose Interpretation and Alyssa Scherer in Poetry, and fifth-place by Schmollinger in Extemporaneous Speaking.
“This was an excellent weekend all around,” said Director of Speech and Debate Joe Blasdel. “As a squad, we won team championships in both speech and debate. We took home multiple individual championships, with Nevaeh Papp, Ava Schmollinger, and Anna Rose Sheehan all winning their respective events. Overall, it was a fantastic finish to our fall competition.”
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