USU debate team wins in Lewiston
Utah State University’s debate team triumphed once again at a tournament at Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho.
The team received second place overall, only losing to Carroll College in Helena, Mont. There were 17 colleges at the tournament.
“Even though we took second place, we have a large enough margin between our two previous tournaments, we’re pretty much guaranteed first place,” said Tom Worthen, volunteer debate coach. USU competes in the Northwest Forensic Conference and is a division-one team. Teams that compete at eight or fewer tournaments a year are division one and teams that compete at more than eight are division two, Worthen said.
All four of the two-man debate teams placed in the top five teams, with Chelsi Sutton and Eric Peatross taking second, Eric Whitehead and Jane McBride taking third and Tom Grover and Richard Walker tying with Di Lewis and Shannon Johnson for fourth.
Individually, several team members received awards. Chelsi Sutton received three second-place awards in informative speaking, extemporaneous speaking and impromptu speaking, as well as third place in persuasive speaking.
Eric Peatross placed second in persuasive speaking and Richard Walker placed third in informative speaking. Di Lewis tied with Sutton in third place in persuasive speaking and was selected as the second best individual debater. Shannon Johnson was selected as the third-best individual debater.
The team’s next tournament is in January at the University of Utah and then they will travel to Western Washington University in Bellingham, Wash.
Currently, the team is made up of students chosen from Worthen’s argumentation class, although he said he hopes to be able to expand beyond eight members in the future. The team is holding tryouts for next semester Nov. 16 in Old Main 121 at 7 p.m. Worthen said experience is not necessary and anyone who is interested may join.
-ella@cc.usu.edu