By JESSICA R. ALLEN

jra020@latech.edu

 

 

The debate team came home from Arkansas Sunday as winners of the first debate tournament of the season.

University of Arkansas-Monticello hosted the tournament last weekend, Oct. 7-9.

Trey Gibson, director of debate and an instructor of speech, said the debate team dominated the tournament.

Gibson said they are in the winning position.

“We are number one in the organization in ranking,” he said.

Gibson said he sent them out with a mission.

“I challenged them and they didn’t just rise to the challenge, they destroyed it.”

Gibson said the team beat out the competition by a large margin.

“Third place overall went to University of Texas-Tyler with 40 points, Second [place] went to University of Arkansas-Fayetteville with 46 points and [our team] had 78 points.”

He said his new competitors this year are great.

“I honestly believe that I have one of the best novice teams. Not a single one novice had a losing record [during preliminaries].”

Gibson said only one beginning debaters did not go to the elimination rounds.

“Five of the six novices advanced to elimination rounds,” Gibson said.

John McCorkle, a member of the debate team and a senior speech major, said he was one of the debaters to make the progress.

“I went on to the elimination rounds,” McCorkle said.

“Personally, I think I did really well for my first competition.”

McCorkle said he won two awards and is thankful for the chance to earn them.

“I won second in debate, in the novice division and a top speaker award,” he said. “I’m grateful that I have the opportunity to perform for Louisiana Tech.”

McCorkle said he never expected his success.

“I wouldn’t have guessed that it would have turned out this way. From here it only gets better.”

Rachel Taylor, a member of the debate team and a junior elementary education major, said she is new to competing and enjoyed the test toward her ability to debate.

“It was my first experience in a tournament,” Taylor said. “I liked the fact that it was challenging.”

Taylor said she enjoyed being in the competition.

“Overall, I learned a lot,” she said. “It was a great learning experience, and I look forward to the next tournament.”

Gibson said there may not be a next tournament.

He said he received a memo Friday afternoon from the department chair that said many of their accounts have been frozen as part of the statewide budget freeze. Gibson said he does not know what will happen next.

“We don’t know if we’re going to be able to go any farther,” he said.

“We [also] don’t know if we are going to be able to travel.”

Gibson said he told the members of the debate team what they should do to help.

He said, “Let’s send a message of what you can do to represent Louisiana Tech.”