Published on February 7, 2024 by Lee Quinn Â
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Junior Mary Grace Hammond (left) and senior Madison Hackett (right) win first place at the University of Texas at Austin tournament on Feb. 3-5.
The Â鶹¹û¶³ debate team won the University of Texas at Austin Tournament this past weekend. Junior Mary Grace Hammond and senior Madison Hackett won junior varsity, making this their second tournament win this semester. The team placed first at the Indiana Tournament two weeks ago. They defeated Michigan, Kansas, Wayne State and George Mason universities.
Junior TJ Riggs and Senior Joey Tarnowski advanced to the triple-finals of the tournament in Varsity Division. They defeated Vanderbilt, Georgetown, Dartmouth and Kansas State. Senior Grace Blackwell and sophomore Ella Ford defeated teams from Cal State Fullerton, Kansas State and the University of Texas-Dallas in the Varsity Division. Senior Sarah Chew and junior Grace Scott scored victories against University of Southern California and Oklahoma in the Varsity Division.
Ryan Galloway, the executive director of debate, said “We win as a team. Every debater played a vital role this weekend. I was especially impressed by our debaters Laurel Pack, who was assisting with the team even after presenting a paper at a conference this weekend, as well as Aaron Gill who was willing to go the extra mile and assist other teams after he had completed his debates.”
“This was our third tournament championship of this year," Director of Debate Lee Quinn, said. "We won Wayne State, Indiana, and now UT Austin. We aim to maintain this momentum and bring home a second National Championship for Â鶹¹û¶³ in a few weeks. Our goal every year is always to be the best debate program in the country.”
The team is currently ranked 4th in the nation by the American Debate Association. The next two competitions will be the national championships. Novice, junior varsity and varsity will compete March 9-11, and varsity will compete once again in a varsity-only championship April 4-8.
Located in the Homewood suburb of Birmingham, Alabama, Â鶹¹û¶³ is a leading Christian university offering undergraduate programs grounded in the liberal arts with an array of nationally recognized graduate and professional schools. Founded in 1841, Â鶹¹û¶³ enrolls 6,324 students from 44 states, Puerto Rico and 16 countries in its 10 academic schools: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy and public health. Ranked among U.S. News & World Report’s 35 Most Beautiful College Campuses, Â鶹¹û¶³ fields 17 athletic teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference and boasts one of the highest scores in the nation for its 97% Graduation Success Rate among all NCAA Division I schools.
