Davis named debate champ; team wraps up season

Tennessee Tech’s speech and debate team members, standing, from left, Amanda Smith, Sarah Stansbury, Madison Davis, Sistina Hammonds, Linh Do and Ju Yeong Park; and seated, Colin Lafever, Isaac Kandel and Gavin Dies at the IPDA national tournament held in Shreveport, Louisiana, in April.

COOKEVILLE – Tennessee Tech’s speech and debate team wrapped up the year at the IPDA national tournament in Shreveport, Louisiana, recently, with one team member honored as national champion.

Madison (Mic) Davis, junior political science/communications major from Hendersonville, was named the national champion in the junior varsity division of IPDA debate in season-long sweepstakes, which makes her the most overall successful competitor in the nation across the entire 2018-2019 debate season.

She was also named the national champion at the Pi Kappa Delta National Tournament held in March.

Davis was surprised by the season-long sweepstakes award, considering she had missed two tournaments.

“The organization compiled points earned as a set number of tournaments and I hadn’t been to very many of those,” she said. “But my coaches went to the tournament director and asked them to count sweeps points from the tournament we had been to, which put me ahead. I had no idea that they did that and I felt honored that my coaches thought enough of me to advocate on my behalf.”

Jacob Metz, assistant speech and debate coach, said that Davis has done an outstanding job throughout the year, represented Tech exceptionally well and “can’t think of anyone more deserving of this recognition.”

Other students also fared well at the tournament. Amanda Smith made it to the quarterfinals in the varsity division of IPDA and is among the top eight varsity IPDA debaters in the country. Davis made it to double-octafinals and was among the top 32 junior varsity debaters of IPDA in the country. Sistina Hammonds made it to octafinals and is among the top 16 novice IPDA debaters in the country. Linh Do, Colin Lafever and Sarah Stansbury all made it to double-octafinals and are among the top 32 novice IPDA debaters in the country. Davis and Isaac Kandel made it to the double-octafinals and are among the top 32 team IPDA debaters in the country.

This season yielded 225 individual awards, 20 team awards, 25 first place individual awards, three first place team awards, two national champion awards, two state champion awards and one national team sweepstakes award and faculty award.

“The award count this year is almost double the number of awards that the team won last year,” Metz said. “Our team has had the most competitively successful year that they’ve ever had during the eight years I have been at Tech. I am proud of each member of the Tech Speech and Debate for the growth they have shown this year and for the accomplishments they have had. They are truly an exceptional group of individuals.” 

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