USU Speech and Debate Team Named Top Team in Northwest Forensic Conference

The Utah State University Speech and Debate Team was recognized as the top Speech and Debate Program in the Northwest Forensic Conference, which includes universities in six states.

Last week’s tournament at Western Washington University, Bellingham, Wash., ended the 2016-17 conference season. Speech and Debate Team coach Tom Worthen said the team will attend its final tournament, Pi Kappa Delta National Speech and Debate Association’s national competition, in March at Boise State University.

This recognition is a cumulative award that totals the results from two of three conference tournaments, said Worthen. In this tournament, he added, six of the 12 competitors who made it to the semi-final rounds in the three divisions of debate were from USU. “It was especially rewarding to see the depth of the team,” he said.

Among her other awards, team member Chantelle Gossner was recognized with the Orv Iverson Award as the second-best new student in the conference. Previously this season, Gossner earned the Singletary Debate Award as the top debater out of more than 250 competitors from 38 universities.

Those students placing in debate competitions were:

Chantelle Gossner: first place in Jr Division and second place in Persuasive Speaking.
Sam Hendricks: first place in Novice Division.
Alex Hall: second in Jr Division.
Tanner Peterson and Garrett Smith: third in Open Division Debate.

Those placing in speech competitions were:

Tanner Petersen: first in Informative Speech and fourth in Impromptu.
Naomi Ward: first in Persuasive Speaking and second in Informative Speech.
Sam Hendricks: first in After Dinner Speaking.
Alex Hall: first in Impromptu and second in Extemp.
Chantelle Gossner: second place in Persuasive Speaking.

Individual Debate speaker awards:

Open Division: Tanner Petersen first.
Jr Division: Chantelle Gossner second and Alex Hall fifth.
Novice Division: Naomi Ward second and Sam Hendricks fourth.

Worthen has coached the speech and debate team since 2007; he also served as coach in the 1980s when the program was started. In the last 10 years, he said, more than 100 students have taken part, coming from a variety of majors such as political science, biology, accounting, philosophy, engineering and English.

The last decade has also seen the USU team take first in the conference seven times.

The team concludes the 2016-2017 season with plenty of awards and more than 6,000 miles on the odometer, said Worthen. “With two vans, that’s over 12,000 miles,” he adds.

Contact: Tom Worthen, 435-994-0023, tom.worthen@usu.edu