McKendree’s Speech and Debate Team Takes Home 10 Awards from Weekend of Competitions
(LEBANON, Ill., Oct. 16, 2025) – McKendree University’s Speech and Debate team started
its speech session strong at Illinois State University on Sunday, Oct. 5. Director
of Speech and Debate, Joe Blasdel, took 10 students, along with Assistant Coach Lance
Allen and alum Alexandra Walthes ’25, to the day of competition. First-year competitors
Lily Joslin, Ava Schmollinger, El Gray, Vince Mugnolo, Nevaeh Papp, and Zach Roeck,
joined returning students Anna Rose Sheehan, Gracie Vincent, Tyson Thompson, and Jade
Riggs, representing McKendree with 15 entries across the spectrum of speech offerings.
The novice pair of Mugnolo and Roeck were recognized as top novices in Duo Interpretation and finished third overall, while the pair of Sheehan and Thompson finished fourth in that event. Sheehan also finished seventh in Communication Analysis and won third place in individual sweepstakes on the day.
“The Illinois State University tournament was a great way to start the season,” Walthes said. “We had the opportunity to see a great variety of competition and succeed in breaking to finals in several events!”
The following weekend, the team competed in two separate debate events. On Oct. 10, Director Blasdel took six students to compete in a novice IPDA tournament at Morton Community College in Cicero, Ill. Dawid Boles, Cade Braddock, Thor Gavin, Ryan Harper, TJ McCurtis, and Ryder Ottolini represented McKendree with a collective record of 8-16 across four rounds each. Braddock finished eighth overall and was recognized as the third best speaker of the tournament.
“All of our students at Morton were competing in their first college debate tournament and, in most cases, their first debate tournament ever. They performed very well, and I look forward to working with them this year,” Blasdel said.
On Oct. 11 and 12, four more students competed in Lewis & Clark Community College’s tournament, hosted in a hybrid format in Portland, Ore., and online. Aidan Bradley, Ari Carney, Ava Schmollinger, and Victoria Adewole competed virtually in Junior Varsity Lincoln-Douglas debate, with Head Debate Coach Brent Nicholson serving as judge. Bradley went 4-1 in preliminary rounds and advanced to the round of 16 before being eliminated. He was recognized as the ninth best speaker. Adewole went 3-2 and advanced to the round of eight before her elimination. She was recognized as the eighth best speaker. Both Carney and Schmollinger went 2-3, barely missing elimination rounds, for a team record of 11-9 in preliminary rounds.
“This is a big step for us,” Nicholson commented. “One of our goals every weekend is to have a winning record as a team, which we did. We had two debaters advance to elimination rounds and two more on the bubble. I’m very proud of the work that went into this progress and am very hopeful for these debaters’ very bright futures.”
The team will compete next in IPDA debate at the Razorback Rumble, hosted virtually by the University of Arkansas next weekend and NPDA debate at the Gina Lane Swing, two tournaments hosted virtually be William Jewell College on the weekend of Oct. 24-26.
-McK-
