USU Speech and Debate Team Members are Winners

Utah State University’s speech and debate team once again garnered an impressive number of awards during competition at the Nation’s largest speech and debate tournament.

Held at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Ore., the event included 55 universities from 13 states. Despite having one of the smallest teams in the competition, each of USU’s seven entrants managed to place in the competition.

Sophomore Garrett Smith took first place in debate with a record of 16 wins and two losses. James Mason, David Emery and Ben Powell each took fourth place in debate and Mariah Andreasen, in her first college tournament, placed ninth.

Freshman Jackson Murphy was named best debate speaker while Mason and Emery placed fourth and sixth respectively in the same category. In individual speech events, Smith won first for informative speaking and fourth in persuasive speaking and Andreasen was awarded first place in persuasive speaking. Emery took third place in impromptu speaking and Shelby Ruud garnered fourth place in informative speaking while Mason won fifth place in the same category.

“Having such a young team and with only seven students attending the tournament, taking first place in three categories of events and especially first place in debate is really impressive,” said volunteer coach Tom Worthen. “These students rose to the occasion and did an excellent job at such a large tournament.”

The team will travel next month to Linfield College in McMinnville, Ore., for its second Northwest Forensic Conference Tournament.

Related links:

• USU Debate Team
• USU Communication Studies Program
• USU Department of Languages, Philosophy and Communication Studies
• USU College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Writer and contact: Kristin Middaugh, CHaSS Communications Director, (435) 797-0267, kristin.middaugh@usu.edu