McKendree Speech and Debate Team Starts Season with Series of Tournaments in Speech, Multiple Formats of Debate

(LEBANON, Ill., Feb. 5, 2025) – The McKendree Speech and Debate team started its spring semester with a series of tournaments in speech and multiple formats of debate.

Just before the semester began, the team hosted the Mound High Swing for the second year. This tournament has previously been known by many names, including the Mile High Swing. Since McKendree became its home institution, the tournament name has changed as a nod to its previous name and recognition of the indigenous peoples whose mounds still dot the landscape surrounding Lebanon.

“This tournament has become perhaps the most competitive regular season tournament in NPDA style debate,” said Head Coach of Debate Brent Nicholson. “This year we had 36 entries, despite a couple last-minute drops for illness. I’m hopeful that this trend will continue, and we’ll see a strong turnout when we host both national tournaments in this format later this year.”

The tournament was a learning experience for McKendree’s relatively young team. Representing McKendree were Victoria Adewole, Caitlin Asbury, Ari Carney, Garrett Crabtree, Elan Headlee, C. Houck, Emma McIlhargie, Meera Mohammad and Jada Tolbert. The team did not advance any debaters to the elimination stage after failing to secure winning records in preliminary rounds.

“The reality of a competitive educational activity like debate is that the students learning the most are often not winning every round,” said Nicholson, who expressed some optimism about the weekend. “While our competitive success wasn’t there this weekend, I’m hopeful that the students took advantage of the great competition and learned from their peers and judges.”

After a weekend away from competition, the team split its ranks from January 24 through 26 to take on Speech and IPDA-style debate at the Gorlok Gala, hosted by Webster University in Webster Groves, Mo., and NPDA-style debate hosted online at the Big Red Classic, hosted by Denison University. Five McKendree students competed in speech events, with most entered in multiple unique categories. Nikki Blue, Jaedlynn Riggs, Alyssa Scherer, Anna Rose Sheehan, and Jordan Wathen competed in a variety of speech events, with Scherer winning fifth place in poetry, continuing a streak of strong performances in the event.

In IPDA-style debate, Blue, Riggs, Sheehan, and Wathen competed in the novice division. All four McKendree students were recognized, with Riggs finishing in the final four, Blue finishing in the round of eight, Sheehan finishing in the round of 16, and Wathen recognized as the eighth-best speaker in the novice division.

“We had a really good showing in both speech and debate at Webster University’s Gorlok Gala, one of the largest tournaments in the country, with 25 colleges and universities in attendance,” said Joe Blasdel, director of Speech and Debate at McKendree University.

On campus, Victoria Adewole, Caitlin Asbury, Aaron Brown, Ari Carney, Garrett Crabtree, Elan Headlee, C. Houck, Erik Hovlid, Jasmyne Jackson, Emma McIlhargie, Meera Mohammad, and Jada Tolbert competed virtually in NPDA-style debate at the Big Red Classic. The team of Brown and McIlhargie competed together for the first time this year, finishing as quarterfinalists. They finished 3-2 in preliminary rounds and were eliminated in the elite eight. All three of their losses came to the teams ranked in the top 10 in the nation by the National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence. Additionally, the team of Adewole and Carney were recognized as the Novice Champions of the tournament after finishing 2-3 in preliminary rounds and competing in a novice-only final round. Adewole was recognized as the third-best novice speaker at the tournament.

“This weekend was a great competition,” Nicholson said. “Our students really turned it around after a hard first weekend of the semester and represented McKendree and themselves well. I’m hopeful going forward that we’re establishing a new trend.”

The next competitions for the team include the Missouri Association of Forensic Activities tournament hosted by the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg, Mo., and the Macke Invitational, hosted by the Mercer University in Macon, Ga. The team will also host the Bearcat Classic, a high school debate tournament, on campus.

 

-McK-