By Laurie Merrill
GCU News Bureau
Grand Canyon University's Speech and Debate Team earned third place overall at the recent Bronco Bash “Swing” tournament at Hastings College in Hastings, Neb. — despite entering only four students.
GCU’s few competitors managed to beat out perennial top-20 teams such as Kansas State University and Hastings College, said team director Barry Regan, a College of Humanities and Social Sciences instructor.
The team has 20 members, but organizers select students to compete in tournaments based on varying criteria.
Sophomore Tommee Gleason and senior Tatum Kaiser set a team record by capturing top-five finishes across the swing tournament, which is two tournaments hosted by one school on the same weekend.
Gleason took first place in Persuasive Speaking and Informative Speaking and second place in Extemporaneous Speaking and Dramatic Interpretation. Kaiser took second place in Poetry Interpretation and Impromptu Speaking and third place in Prose Interpretation and After Dinner Speaking.
“I can confidently say that these are the most impressive performances at a tournament in our team's history,” Regan said.
On Saturday, GCU hosted the 2017 Arizona District Congress Tournament National Qualifier. The state’s top 80 students from 16 high schools spoke on topics that included NAFTA, Taiwan, Puerto Rico and Yemen.
The team’s next tournament is the National Round Robin Championships for Parliamentary Debate on Friday and Saturday at William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri.
GCU will host the national Christian College Forensics Invitational tournament on March 17-19.
To read a story about how the team cracked the top 20 out of 152 teams in parliamentary debate, click here.
For a story about Regan receiving a prestigious award for his team leadership, click here.
Contact Laurie Merrill at (602) 639-6511 or [email protected].
