McKendree Speech and Debate Opens Strong
(LEBANON, Ill., September 22, 2015) — The McKendree University speech and debate team
opened its season by competing in two elite tournaments at Western Kentucky University
and William Jewell College.
Sixteen colleges and universities, including the University of Alabama, the University
of Kentucky, and Truman State University, competed at Western Kentucky University
on Sept. 19-20. Representing McKendree were juniors Dylan Comer, Katie Reining and
Taylor Rossi; sophomore Hannah Zickefoose; and first-years Aliyah Smith, Andrew Wagner
and Emma Webster.
At the first half, Zickefoose took second place in programmed oral interpretation,
going 2-2-3 in finals. Additionally, Smith was recognized as the top novice in prose
interpretation while Wagner took top novice honors in extemporaneous speaking.
At the second half, Zickefoose again advanced to programmed oral interpretation finals,
going 1-3-4 in finals. Smith and Wagner again won top novice in prose interpretation
and extemporaneous speaking, respectively.
Sixteen colleges and universities, including the University of Texas, the University
of Missouri, and Lewis and Clark College attended the tournament at William Jewell
College on Sept. 18-20. Representing McKendree were seniors Lance Allen and Rodney
McBride; sophomores Alex Baldwin, Beth Graham, David Junge, Adam Kaul and Gage Simmons;
and first-year Adeja Powell.
Two McKendree teams posted 4-4 records. Baldwin and Simmons just missed breaking,
narrowly losing their eighth round to last year’s 20th ranked team in the nation from Concordia. Allen and Powell also went 4-4, taking
a quality win from Texas Tech University.
McKendree will next compete at Loyola University on September 25-27.
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Speech team members representing McKendree University at Western Kentucky University were, left to right, Dylan Comer, Katie Reining, Taylor Rossi, Andrew Wagner, Hannah Zickefoose, Emma Webster and Aliyah Smith.
