The Samford Novice Debate team won the Gonzaga University tournament hosted Oct. 29-30, with the teams of Ella Ford and Mary Grace Hammond, Libby Hutchinson and Praise Kelly-Williams, and Lucy Eubanks and Madison Hackett sharing the co-championship. 

 

Ford won the second speaker at the tournament, Eubanks was third, Hackett was fourth, Hammond was the fifth speaker, Hutchinson was the eighth speaker, and Kelly-Williams was the tenth speaker. The novices defeated Monmouth University, Southwestern University, and the University of Indiana on their way to the championship.

 

“We’ve never had such dominance in a division in my seventeen years at the University,” said executive director of debate Ryan Galloway. “Our novice program is competing at an elite level,” he added.

 

The Samford varsity teams of Grace Blackwell and TJ Riggs and Aaron Gill and Joey Tarnowski also had their best tournament of the season, defeating Dartmouth, Northwestern, the University of Kentucky, and Missouri State University. 

 

“While a lot of the focus of this tournament will be on the novice debaters, our program is really succeeding in every division,” said director of debate Lee Quinn. 

 

The squad competes at Wake Forest University in two weeks to close out their fall semester.