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Debate and Forensics Teams Notch Impressive Victories
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Debate Team
For the second year in a row, Illinois State's Debate and Forensics teams both won tournaments in convincing fashion on the weekend of Januray 27-29.’s debate team won the Augustana College Debate tournament. The team of Bryan Asbury (junior, communication studies) and Sheeba Safa (sophomore, English) along with the team of Alex Berger (junior, philosophy) and Robert Kosic (sophomore, political science) closed out the final round of the tournament. “While closing out a final round is not unheard of, it is a rare accomplishment. And, it is certainly something that ISU has not done, to my knowledge, for at least a decade. It is a testament to our continued growth and excellence as an intercollegiate debate program,” said Joe Zompetti, Assistant Professor of Communication and Director of Forensics. “What makes this particularly significant is both of our teams advanced to the finals—meaning they were both the best teams competing in their division.” On the same weekend, the perennial powerhouse forensics team won the University of Nebraska/Kansas State University Swing Tournament.

For debate, in addition to the team championship, Asbury and Berger earned first and second place speaker awards, respectively. Overall, the teams secured victories over schools such as the University of Northern Iowa, Augustana, and Western Illinois University. In 2004, Illinois State’s debate team was revitalized after a several year hiatus. In 2005, they won the best newcomer award, a prestigious award given to the best up-and-coming program in the Midwest. The teams travel next to the Notre Dame tournament in February.

For the forensics team, eight students placed in elimination rounds during the first half of the swing tournament hosted by the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, including a first-place finish by Andrew Kudla (senior, English) in Program Oral Interpretation. During the second day of the swing, hosted by Kansas State University, ten forensics team members made it to the elimination rounds, with five individuals placing first. Kudla won Persuasive Speaking, Kelly McCarthy (senior, Communication) won Poetry Interpretation, Jordan Bryant (junior, Communication) won Program Oral Interpretation, Jamie Downing (sophomore, Communication) won Extemporaneous Speaking, and Ryan Henneberry (first-year, Social Sciences) won Informative Speaking.

Since 1995, Illinois State's forensics team has placed in the top three in the nation every year, including four national championships. The forensics team is the defending national champion of the American Forensics Association.
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