Truman Forensic Union Continues Success at University of Central Missouri

 
Truman’s Forensic Union, speech and debate team, attended its third tournament Oct. 18-19 at the University of Central Missouri. Thirteen students traveled to Warrensburg to compete in the Missouri Mule and the Dale Carnegie Invitational.
 
The Missouri Mule on Oct. 18 proved the team was in their stride. In Lincoln-Douglas debate, six students advanced beyond preliminary rounds to elimination rounds. Junior Mackenzie Barnes, sophomore Alec Hubbard and junior Sarah Muir each advanced to double-octafinal rounds. Junior Dillon Laaker and freshman Connor Stewart each advanced to the octafinal rounds. Sophomore Donny Richardson advanced all the way to the semifinal round. In individual speech events, sophomore Anson Long-Seabra made it to finals in poetry interpretation, where he took first place.
 
On Oct. 19, the team’s success continued. Hubbard advanced past preliminary rounds in Lincoln-Douglas debate and reached the octafinals. In individual speech events, Long-Seabra made it to the final round of poetry interpretation and placed third. Long-Seabra also made the final round of after-dinner speaking where he was unanimously ranked the top speaker, placing first in the event.
 
The Truman Forensic Union will split the Nov. 8-9 weekend for their next tournaments. Debaters will travel to the inaugural Red Bird Invitational hosted by Illinois State University. The individual events team will travel to the Lynn Ross Invitational and Alumni Tournament hosted by Kansas State University.
 
Participation in the forensics program is open to any Truman student in good standing, regardless of prior speech and debate experience. For more information, visit forensics.truman.edu or contact Christopher Outzen, director of individual events, at coutzen@truman.edu, or Kevin Minch, interim director of forensics at kminch@truman.edu.