McKendree University Speech and Debate is Third in the Nation!
Will Host Two National Tournaments on Campus in March
(LEBANON, Ill., February 24, 2020) — McKendree University’s Speech and Debate Team is headed into the post-season, following a very strong performance to close the
regular season. For the first time ever, those post-season performances will largely
take place at McKendree University, the host of both the National Parliamentary Tournament
of Excellence (NPTE), March 7-9, and the National Parliamentary Debate Association
Championship Tournament (NPTE), March 12-14.
Mitch Deleel and Adeja Powell just turned in their best performance of the season,
going undefeated at the University of Missouri’s National Warm-Up, while defeating
the seventh, eighth and 12th ranked teams in the country. Powell was also awarded the Best Speaker Award for her
individual performance. Together, they are currently the third-ranked team in the
nation, just behind the University of California at Berkeley. They now have three
tournament wins this year (at McKendree, Berkeley and Missouri) and six tournament
wins overall—the most of any McKendree team in history.
“Adeja and Mitch have had an incredible year with three big tournament wins,” said
Joe Blasdel, speech and debate coach. “Their talent and work ethic are extraordinary;
it will be exciting to see them compete at nationals in the next few weeks.”
Adeja and Mitch will be joined by two other teams at the NPTE—Caden Owens and Rebecca
Postula, as well as Kyle Garrett and Kyle Smith. Owens and Postula are currently the
32nd ranked team, having advanced at four tournaments this year. Garrett and Smith are
currently 24th, also advancing at four tournaments this year. This is the first year since 2013
that McKendree qualified three teams for the NPTE.
Four other McKendree debaters have placed at tournaments this year–Dalton Atwater,
Jamari Jackson, Maddie Kopp and Noah Marlar–and they will also compete at NPDA nationals.
Isa Scaturro has qualified both of her events, informative speaking and communication
analysis, to the prestigious American Forensic Association National Individual Events
Tournament. In particular, at Webster’s Gorlok Gala she took first in informative
speaking and third place in communication analysis, in a field of students from 37
colleges and universities. At McKendree’s spring speech tournament, Scaturro, along
with Kate Maag, Aliyah Smith and Rebecca Postula, advanced 13 of 14 entries to finals,
an incredibly high finals conversion rate.
The NPTE at McKendree on March 7-9 will include about 30 of the highest ranked teams
from across the nation, including the University of California at Berkeley, Rice University,
the University of Minnesota and the University of Oregon. Open to the public, it will
take place largely in the Piper Academic Center.
The NPDA on March 12-14 will have 70 teams from across the nation. Given the size
of the tournament, debates will occur in almost every campus classroom. It is also
open to the public.
Competing at the University of Missouri’s National Warm-Up Mizzou were, front row, Maddie Kopp, Rebecca Postula and Mitch Deleel; back row, Kyle Garrett, Kyle Smith, Jamari Jackson, Adeja Powell, Noah Marlar and Caden Owens.
Rebecca Postula, Kate Maag, Isa Scaturro and Aliyah Smith advanced 13 of 14 entries to finals at McKendree’s spring speech tournament.
Kyle Garrett, Kyle Smith, Caden Owens and Rebecca Postula at Webster University’s Gorlok Gala speech tournament.
Isa Scaturro took first in informative speaking at the Gorlok Gala speech tournament.
-McK-
