Truman Speech and Debate Fares Well at Recent Tournaments

Truman’s speech and debate team traveled to two tournaments in October, bringing home a team championship and 16 individual awards.

Individual events competitors traveled to the Bradley/Illinois State University swing tournament, which took place in Normal, Ill., Oct. 5-7.

Junior Arielle Long-Seabra placed seventh in prose interpretation, qualifying her for the national tournament in April.

Freshmen Dillion Laaker and Blake Bixler also qualified for nationals by advancing to the final round of novice extemporaneous speaking. Laaker placed second and Bixler took fourth in the round.

Freshman David Cook took fifth place in novice prose interpretation, and Cook and his partner, freshman Sarah Stark, were recognized as the top novices at the tournament in duo interpretation.

At the Dale Carnegie swing tournament, hosted by the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg, Mo., Oct. 19-20, Truman won the team debate sweepstakes award and placed second out of 15 schools in speech and debate combined sweepstakes.

During the first day of the tournament, junior Kristen Wright won the Lincoln-Douglas debate competition, beating out 42 competitors.

Junior Myra Milam and sophomore Maddie Ebert advanced to the semifinal round, earning them a place among the top four debaters at the tournament. Milam was also named the third best speaker.

The next day, Milam placed in the top eight debaters by advancing to the quarterfinal round and was recognized as the fifth best speaker. Ebert advanced to the octofinal round of the top 16 debaters.

In individual events, Long-Seabra won prose interpretation and placed fourth in dramatic interpretation. Sophomore Codi Caton earned fifth place in prose interpretation and freshman Sarah Muir took sixth in impromptu speaking. These awards gave Truman three more qualifications to the national tournament.

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