SDU Ranks Top 10 for its 4th Consecutive National Tournament
Left to Right: Dr. Ryan Goke, Samuel Harless, Caleb McCurren, Coleton Boyd, Essabella Voss, Hailey Meshew
Angela Jones & Sierra Noe
The Murray State Speech & Debate Union finished their season with a strong performance at the IPDA National Debate Championship hosted by Middle Tennessee State University.
423 competitors from 52 schools across the nation attended this tournament, making it one of the most challenging competitions of the season.
Awards
Graduating senior Caleb McCurren had a staggering 7-1 win record in prelim rounds, earning a spot in the single-elimination winner’s bracket as the #4 seed. McCurren advanced through 2 elimination rounds before losing on a 2-1 decision in the Sweet 16; ranking 9th in the nation.
For the second national tournament in a row, Freshman competitor Coleton Boyd placed top 10 in novice speaks, ranking 8th.
Left to Right: Dr. Ryan Goke and Dr. Pat Richey, Director of the MTSU Speech and Debate Team
We had several friends of the team that used to compete with Dr. Goke join us in Murfreesboro to support the SDU! Angela Jones and Justin Hilliard were on TN Tech’s team; Sierra Noe was an honorary member of TN Tech’s team but attended the University of TN Knoxville. All 3 competed in Parliamentary Debate and an assortment of speech events.
Justin Hilliard