2nd National Championship in a Row!

The Murray State Speech & Debate Union has secured a national championship in debate for the second year in a row at the Pi Kappa Delta National Comprehensive Tournament. This is the first time in the SDU’s history that we have won back-to-back national debate titles, and both were won by the same student (Samuel Harless). 

This was the largest comprehensive national tournament in Pi Kappa Delta history with 59 schools in attendance and a total of 1,898 entries across ~600 competitors.

Awards

CHAMPION Varsity Speaker and CHAMPION JV Speaker NPDA Debate - Samuel Harless

2nd place JV Speaker and 4th Place Overall Speaker NPDA Debate - Caleb McCurren 

2nd Place Speaker Novice NPDA Debate - Essabella Voss

4th Place JV Speaker NPDA Debate - Samuel Miller

2nd Place Speaker Novice IPDA Debate - Coleton Boyd

Samuel Harless & Samuel Miller were 1 of only 2 JV teams to make the Elite 8 in NPDA debate and they were the highest performing JV team at the tournament.

Freshman competitor Coleton Boyd placed in 3 individual performances: he made the Elite 8 (5th place) in Novice IPDA Debate; ranked top 20 in the nation for Extemporaneous Speaking out of ~ 200 competitors; and ranked 31st out of 197 competitors in Impromptu speaking.

Additionally, Murray State will directly influence the future of speech and debate because our coach, Dr. Ryan Goke, was 1 of 3 members to be elected to the Pi Kappa Delta governing board, where he will serve for the next two years.

Upcoming Events

On April 23, we will host our annual Provost’s Premiere.

We hope to see you there!

Left to right: Dr. Ryan Goke, Samuel Miller, Caleb McCurren, Coleton Boyd, Samuel Harless, Essabella Voss, Hailey Meshew