McKendree’s Speech and Debate Team Competes in Intercollegiate Competitions, Partners with Local High School Programs

(LEBANON, Ill.) – The McKendree University Speech and Debate team comes into the spring semester having recently completed a mix of intercollegiate competition and work with local high school programs.

On Oct. 28, the halls of Piper Academic Center at McKendree University were filled with the sound of high school debaters from the surrounding area competing in the Hunsaker Classic, named for Dr. Richard Hunsaker, the founder of the university’s speech and debate team. This tournament is one of many hosted and supported by the team as it rolls out a new program, tentatively dubbed the Southern Illinois Debate League, to support local high school debate programs’ access to the opportunities afforded by competitive debate. First-year Meera Mohammad, a first-year on McKendree’s team, helped coach the Belleville East team. Members of the McKendree team also served as judges for the tournament, providing valuable insight and feedback to high schoolers.

The fall semester concluded with a flurry of competition and service for the team. Across the weekend of December 1-3, Webster University’s Gateway Classic speech tournament and McKendree’s Big Tent Online debate tournament overlapped with Triad High School’s Knight’s Joust.

Sophomore Gracie Vincent and junior Alexandra Walthes competed at the Gateway Classic, which features two tournaments in a single weekend. Walthes took third place in Program Oral Interpretation in both tournaments, including the Top Novice award at the second tournament. Vincent finished sixth in Prose at the second tournament.

During the Big Tent Online debate tournament, first-years Alex Duncan, Elan Headlee, Erik Hovlid and Jasmyne Jackson teamed up with sophomore Caitlin Asbury and junior Garrett Crabtree to compete virtually. The team of Crabtree and Headlee finished second in Junior Varsity NPDA debate, and Crabtree was recognized as the tenth-place varsity speaker.

At Triad’s Knight’s Joust, McKendree University speech and debate alumni were out in force to support the local tournament. Former members joined the judging pool, and Joe Blasdel, McKendree’s director of speech and debate, coached the Belleville East debate team to a clean sweep of their divisions.

Before the second semester rolled in, McKendree’s debate team co-hosted two tournaments over a four-day period with the University of Texas at Tyler on McKendree’s campus. The tournaments are part of a long tradition of early semester competition known as The Mile High Swing, but McKendree’s version took on the name The Mound High Swing to acknowledge the pre-Columbian history of this area and direct visitors to that local history. McKendree’s team was joined by the debate programs from Rice University, University of California – Berkeley, Kansas City Kansas Community College, William Jewell College and Mercer College.

Juniors Aaron Brown and Emma McIlhargie started their spring with a 3-2 preliminary performance and a win in the Sweet 16 round before being knocked out by the reigning national champions, and eventual weekend champions, from the University of California at Berkeley. They were joined in competition by first-years Mohammad, Headlee, Jada Tolbert, and junior Crabtree.

At the second tournament, the teams of Mohammad and Headlee and Brown and McIlhargie both went 2-3, narrowly missing the elimination stage.

“The tournament was hotly contested, with multiple former national champions and national runners-up in attendance,” said Brent Nicholson, debate coach at McKendree University. “This result isn’t flashy, but it demonstrates that we’re making strides forward, learning more and applying our skills and knowledge in our competition.”

The team will continue its steady march forward with competition at Webster University in Webster Groves, Mo., and a workshop for local high school students hosted at McKendree.

Interested students are always welcome to join the McKendree Speech and Debate team. Students can contact Joe Blasdel, director of speech and debate, by emailing jeblasdel@mckendree.edu with any inquiries about the team.

 

-McK-