McKendree University speech, debate teams finish successful season

The speech and debate teams at McKendree University in Lebanon won 26 awards at five national tournaments.

“This year’s success in both speech and debate is a testament to what we’re trying to do at McKendree — be one of the best comprehensive speech and debate programs in the nation,” Program Director Joe Blasdel stated in a news release.

McKendree was represented by juniors Alex Baldwin, Beth Graham and Gage Simmons and sophomore Adeja Powell at the National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence at the University of Colorado at Pueblo in March. Baldwin and Simmons placed 25th, and Graham and Powell placed 27th.

At the National Speech Championship hosted at Northwestern University in March, the following students represented McKendree — seniors Dylan Comer, Katie Reining and Taylor Rossi; junior Emma Webster; sophomore Andrew Wagner; and freshman Grace Alexander, Kate Maag and Isa Scaturro. McKendree placed 10th overall as a squad.

McKendree was represented by Comer, Reining, Rossi, Webster, Wagner, Alexander and Maag at the National Forensic Association Championship Tournament at the University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire in April. In its division, McKendree placed 10th overall and 21st in open sweepstakes.

This story was originally published May 23, 2017 at 10:20 AM with the headline "McKendree University speech, debate teams finish successful season."