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Speech and Debate Team Compete in Online and In-Person Tournaments

Top: Kyle Heideman, Ryan Goke, Case Thomason, and Garret Kieser. Bottom: Elliot Payne, Sara Owens, and Kurapati. The Murray State Team spent the tournament helping TTU prep for rounds and prepare arguments. Photo from Carson-Newman Tournament staff. 

This past weekend, Tennessee Tech’s Speech and Debate Team traveled to Carson-Newman University for a good old-fashioned in-person tournament. This tournament’s attendance consisted of head coach Dr. Graham Kash, assistant coach Dr. Bettye Kash, as well as competitors Elliot Payne and Sara Owens. On Friday, the team arrived at Carson-Newman and debated three rounds of NPDA debate. NPDA is a classic format of debate based on British parliamentary procedure that many teams across the nation still participate in. Debate partners Elliot and Sara connected with the team from Murray State University, led by TTU Speech and Debate Team alumnus Ryan Goke for some advice and help with NPDA. On the second day, Elliot participated in Impromptu speaking and Sara competed in Poetry. After breaking into finals, Sara came out with a 6th-place trophy! In the last few hours of day two, Tech’s team repaid the favor to Murray by supporting their NPDA team for their final rounds.

Murray State team member Garret Kieser shares a laugh with TTU head coach Dr. Graham Kash in between rounds at Carson Newman. Photo by Elliot Payne.

During this same weekend, TTU team member Jaden Mullins participated in a virtual tournament at Linfield University. Jaden competed in three rounds of Impromptu speaking online. These two simultaneous tournaments were the last two for the Tech’s team for the calendar year, the team looks forward to future tournaments starting in the spring semester.