McKendree’s Speech and Debate Team Finishes Second Year of Regular Competition in Public Debate with Awards, Prepares for Upcoming National Speech Championship
(LEBANON, Ill., March 4, 2025) – McKendree University’s speech and debate team finished
its regular season with strong performances at competitions hosted by the Missouri
Association of Forensics Activities and Mercer University during the weekend of Feb.
14 through 16. The following weekend on Feb. 22, the team hosted its final high school
debate event of the season on campus.
The Missouri Association of Forensics Activities (MAFA) hosted its annual state tournament virtually on Feb. 14 and 15 due to inclement weather, but that did not stop McKendree students from competing. In the varsity division of team public debate, the team of Gracie Vincent and Elan Headlee were finalists, finishing second in the tournament. Headlee was also recognized as the second-best individual speaker in the event. In the novice division of team public debate, Anna Rose Sheehan was recognized as the sixth-best individual speaker. Also competing at MAFA were Caitlin Asbury, Erik Hovlid, Nikki Blue, C. Houck, Jade Riggs and Alexandra Walthes.
This tournament marked the end of the team’s competition in public debate for the season, having had nine individual students collect awards in these formats. This is just the second year of regular competition in public debate for the team.
The speech and debate team will finish its season speech events at the National Speech
Championship (NSC) in Peoria, Ill., on March 22 and 23.
“I was really pleased with the work before MAFA, and the results at the tournament showed why that work was important,” said Assistant Speech and Debate Coach Lance Allen. “We had multiple new events, all of which brought home great ranks. We will go into NSC with the most events we’ve had in at least five years.”
At the Mercer University Frank Macke Debate Tournament, hosted in Macon, Ga., on Feb. 15 and 16, the two teams of Aaron Brown and Emma McIlhargie and Victoria Adewole and Ari Carney competed in NPDA-style debate. The team of Brown and McIlhargie advanced to elimination rounds and finished as quarterfinalists after a strong preliminary record of 4-1, having defeated the sixth-ranked team in the nation from Rice University in their fifth preliminary round. Brown was recognized as the fifth-best individual speaker, and McIlhargie was recognized as the eighth-best individual speaker. The team of Adewole and Carney narrowly missed elimination rounds with a round five preliminary loss to a team from Concordia University Irvine.
The speech and debate team will next compete in NPDA-style debate when it hosts the National Parliamentary Debate Association Championship Tournament (NPDA) from March 7 through 10 and the National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence (NPTE) from March 12 through 14. The NPDA Championship Tournament is an open invitation tournament, while the NPTE requires qualification through a regular season points system. The teams of Brown and McIlhargie and Adewole and Carney both qualified and will compete at the NPTE.
“I am very excited about where we’re going as a team,” said Head Coach of Debate Brent Nicholson. “Aaron and Emma have come on strong to end their final season of competition, debating some of the best teams in the nation and demonstrating that hard work does pay off. I think we’ll have a good chance to make a big impact at our national tournaments and hopefully make the home crowd happy.”
On the whole, Nicholson described the team’s regular season as “a learning experience for a young team.”
“We’re going to have ups and downs, and I think our students have learned a lot and they’re prepared to have their best tournament of the year be the last one, which is all we can ask of them,” he said. “I’m very proud of how they’ve handled the season.”
Finally, on Feb. 22 the speech and debate team hosted the Bearcat Classic, a high school debate tournament focused on preparing students for their end-of-season competitions. This was the culmination of a new program, the Southern Illinois Debate League (SIDL), which saw McKendree’s speech and debate team coaching, judging, and hosting school tournaments with a number of local schools. Southern Illinois Debate League tournaments were attended by six different high schools and increased opportunities for dozens of students to compete in high school debate activities.
“I’m very pleased with our engagement with local high schools this year through SIDL,” said Director of Speech and Debate Joe Blasdel. “Not only have we expanded the number and quality of debate opportunities for local high school students, but we’ve also created a program where those students are able to come to McKendree and then help coach at their home high schools. Next year, we expect to have at least six students on the McKendree team who participated in SIDL as high schoolers.”
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