McKendree's Speech and Debate Team Starts Season off Strong in Two Tournaments

by Tina Napper

Lebanon, IL (10/04/2024) — The McKendree Speech & Debate Team started its season with a double-header split across two states. Over the weekend, 13 McKendree debaters put together a 23-20 preliminary record across the two tournaments and two formats of debate. Six students, some of whom competed in debate events as well, competed in speech events, bringing home two finals appearances.

McKendree Director of Speech and Debate Joe Blasdel traveled to Bolivar, Mo., to compete at Southwest Baptist University's Derryberry Season Opener. Students Erik Hovlid, Jasmyne Jackson, Anna Rose Sheehan, C. Houck, Holden Hutchcraft, Jaedlynn Riggs, and Tyson Thompson competed in IPDA, a public debate format. In addition to IPDA, Hovlid, Thompson, Sheehan, and Houck entered in speech events as well. They were joined by teammate Alexandra Walthes, competing in four speech events, with Alyssa Scherer competing in one. Rounding out the travel party was alumni coach Kyle Garrett. They competed against students from Missouri State University, Webster University, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Wiley University, and Illinois College, among others.

In Novice IPDA, Sheehan went 4-0 in preliminary rounds and advanced to the elimination stage where she was eliminated in the round of 16. Sheehan was joined in the round of 16 by teammate Thompson, who went 3-1 in preliminary rounds. In speech events, Walthes finished as a finalist in Dramatic Interpretation, and Sheehan was a finalist in Prose.

Director Joe Blasdel praised his students and staff when asked about the weekend.

"This was an excellent opening weekend for the McKendree University Speech and Debate Team. I'm not surprised, though, as our new students, returning students, and coaches have worked very hard to get ready for competition," he said.

Speech and Debate Coach Brent Nicholson took his own traveling party to Houston, Texas to compete at the Rice University Classic, unsurprisingly hosted at Rice University. Aaron Brown, Caitlin Asbury, Elan Headlee, Jada Tolbert, Victoria Adewole, and Ari Carney made the trip to Houston to compete against students from University of California - Berkeley, Rice University, Tulane University, and GLVC rival William Jewell College, among others.

The first-year team of Adewole and Carney had an outstanding first college competition, going 4-1 in preliminary debates before being eliminated in the round of 16. The team of Brown and Asbury went 3-2 in preliminary rounds and were eliminated in the round of 16 as well. The team of Headlee and Tolbert finished 2-3 in preliminary rounds, missing the elimination stage by a single ballot. Team Captain Aaron Brown was recognized as the ninth best individual speaker of 58 debaters at the tournament.

"This is a huge turnaround from our performance at this tournament last year. We collectively went 9-6 in preliminary debates after going 3-17 last year. Our students have made incredible strides and are showing a lot of promise to start the season with such a big leap forward," said Coach Nicholson.

Aaron

Brown