Speech and Debate Wins Tournament

The U of A Speech and Debate Society traveled this weekend to Conway to compete at the University of Central Arkansas' End of Hi-Bear Nation Debate Tournament.

The squad, consistenting of Austin Keefe, Dylan Hall, Izzy Swafford, Percy Blaich, Emma Powell, Ella Grannon, Hayden Jescheling, Colten Nichols, Jace Godfrey, Lydia Lim, Josh Tompkins, Brendan Klaus, Sophie Barrentine, Luke Thurmon, Hayden Mittlestat, Remi La Blue, Matthew Cook, Jonas Lansford, Will Crews, Abbie Ahlbrandt and Delanie O'Dell brought home numerous accolades, which included first place sweepstakes in all individual debate, team debate and the tournament's overall sweepstakes champion. This marks the organization's first tournament win, as well as first time sweeping every category.  

In the novice division, Lim was the third place speaker, as well as a semifinalist. La Blue was a novice octofinalist, her first time advancing to elimination rounds. Tompkins was a novice quarterfinalist. 

In the junior varsity division, Crews was the first place speaker, as well as a quarterfinalist. Mittlestat was the fourth place speaker in the division, and tournament co-champion, alongside teammate Powell, who was the division's second place speaker. 

In the varsity division, Colten Nichols was the second place speaker. Treasurer Swafford and President Keefe were quarterfinalists. Vice President Hall was the division's fourth place speaker, as well as the varsity champion. 

In the team division, the team of Lim/Tompkins were quarterfinalists, marking their first outround appearance. The teams of Powell/Keefe and Hall/Swafford were tournament co-champions. This is Powell/Keefe's second championship in the team division this season and Hall/Swafford's third in a row. Keefe was the division's fourth place speaker.  

As a squad, the team won first place sweeps, as mentioned before, and was also the recipient of third place for the "Big Bear" award, which tracks win percentage. As the largest organization in attendance, the group still received a 53% win ratio in preliminary competition.

The team will next travel to Dallas, Texas, the weekend of March 20-22 to attend their final tourmament of the season prior to nationals, hosted by Dallas Baptist University. As always, speech and debate would like to thank the Diane Blair Center for Southern Politics and Society, the Department of History and Fulbright College. Special individual thanks go out to Grace Gierach, Anthony McMullen J.D., and Professor Lindsay Duede for the extra help during the weekend.  

If you, or someone you know, is interested in joining the program, please contact Coach Hannah Morris (hannahm@uark.edu) or President Keefe (akeefe@uark.edu).