Month: October 2025

This past weekend, Truman Debaters attended the second Public Forum Debate Tournament of the season, sponsored by Pi Kappa Delta. This style of debate has teams of two go head-to-head on a semester-long topic. Second-year Economics and Political Science major, Sawyer Partney, from Springfield, MO, and his debate partner, Eric Rotert, a second-year Criminal Justice major from Liberty, MO, had an outstanding showing this weekend. Partney and Rotert were the tournament champions, defeating the University of Missouri in the final round. Truman’s showing also placed them ahead of Simpson College, Butler University, and Otterbein College, among others. Partney and Rotert also finished 7th and 6th place, respectively, in speaker awards. Speaker awards are given to debate competitors for their exemplary performance abilities.

Assistant Director of Forensics, Lars Wagener, says, “This team is doing incredibly well for so early in the season. It is exciting to see the growth of our students in this new format.” Debaters are currently prepping for their next competition, the Illinois State University Redbird. The Individual Event Team will also take on Illinois at Bradley University’s Norton Invitational this coming weekend.

The first week of October was an exciting time for Truman Forensics. While the campus was enjoying Fall Break, the team was busy competing at 4 tournaments. Across OATS #1, PKD Public Forum #1, and the Missouri Mule/Carnegie Swing, the team secured 35 more national qualifications, bringing the total this semester up to 39 for the National Forensic Association (NFA) tournament. The team brought back a total of 107 awards, one of the largest single-week successes the team has had in twenty years. Associate Director of Forensics, Lars Wagener, is thrilled with the team’s hard work and “downright ecstatic to see what the rest of the season holds.” To qualify for the NFA tournament, students must reach a sufficiently-sized elimination round in a regular-season tournament. The tally below documents the impressive showing across these four tournaments.

TOTAL NFA QUALIFICATIONS FOR THE WEEK: 35

TOTAL AFA QUALIFICATIONS FOR THE WEEK: 6

CUMULATIVE NFA QUALIFICATIONS TO DATE (INCLUDING DEBATE): 39

TOTAL AWARDS FOR THE WEEK: 107

Pi Kappa Delta Public Forum Debate Tournament Series #1

• Eric Rotert (1st-year) and Sawyer Partney (2nd-year) – Semifinalists
• Sawyer Partney (2nd-year) – 4^th Speaker
• Payten Luaders (3rd-year) – 7^th Speaker
• Ashton Mullen (3rd-year) – 9^th Speaker

Online Asynchronous Tournament Series #1

• Briggs Maynor (4th-year) and Alex Peterson (4th-year) – 4^th Place in Duo Interpretation (NFA Qualification)
• Jack Unsell (1st-year) – 4^th Place and Top Novice in Extemporaneous Speaking (NFA Qualification)
• Jack Unsell (1st-year) – Semifinalist and Top Novice in Impromptu Speaking (NFA Qualification)
• Jack Unsell (1st-year) – Top Novice in Individual Sweepstakes
• Emery McEvoy (2nd-Year)  – Semifinalist in Impromptu Speaking (NFA Qualification)
• Ashton Mullen (3rd-Year) – 5^th Place in Informative Speaking (NFA Qualification)
• Annie Nguyen (1st-year) – Top Novice in Persuasive Speaking
• Cooper Spacil (2nd-Year) – 7th Place (NFA Qualification)
• Team Sweepstakes – 2^nd Place (Tied with Louisiana State University, Illinois State was 4^th, UT-Austin was 5^th)

University of Central Missouri “Swing” Tournament (2 Parts)

Missouri Mule – Individual Events

• Willow Adamson (1st-year) – 1^st in Poetry Interpretation (NFA Qualification)
• Willow Adamson (1st-year) – 4^th in After Dinner Speaking (NFA Qualification)
• Briggs Maynor (4th-year) – 3^rd in Rhetorical Criticism (NFA Qualification)
• Briggs Maynor (4th-year) – 5^th in Prose Interpretation  (NFA Qualification)
• Briggs Maynor (4th-year) and Alex Peterson (4th-year) – 1^st in Duo Interpretation (AFA Qualification)
• Briggs Maynor (4th-year) and Jessie Philips (4th-year) – 2^nd in Duo Interpretation (NFA Qualification)
• Annie Nguyen (1st-year) – 2^nd in Informative Speaking (NFA Qualification)
• Annie Nguyen (1st-year) – 2^nd in Persuasive Speaking (NFA Qualification)
• Alex Peterson (4th-year) – 1^st in Impromptu Speaking (NFA Qualification)
• Alex Peterson (4th-year) – 3^rd in After Dinner Speaking (NFA Qualification)
• Alex Peterson (4th-year) – 3^rd in Informative Speaking (NFA Qualification)
• Alex Peterson (4th-year) – 5^th in Dramatic Interpretation (NFA Qualification)
• Jessie Philips (4th-year) – 2^nd in Prose Interpretation (NFA Qualification)
• Jack Schroeder (2nd-Year) – 5^th in Extemporaneous Speaking (NFA Qualification)
• Jack Schroeder (2nd-Year) – 6^th in Informative Speaking (NFA Qualification)
• Cooper Spacil (2nd-Year) – 2^nd in After Dinner Speaking (NFA Qualification)
• Cooper Spacil (2nd-Year) – 2^nd in Broadcast Journalism
• Cooper Spacil (2nd-Year) – Semifinalist in Impromptu Speaking (NFA Qualification)
• Jack Unsell (1st-year) – 2^nd in Extemporaneous Speaking
• Jack Unsell (1st-year) – 3^rd in Impromptu Speaking
• Jack Unsell (1st-year) – 4^th in Rhetorical Criticism
• Jack Unsell (1st-year) – 5^th in Extemporaneous Speaking
• Lauren Weiss (2nd-Year) – 5^th in After Dinner Speaking (NFA Qualification)
• Lauren Weiss (2nd-Year) – Semifinalist in Impromptu Speaking (NFA Qualification)

Missouri Mule – Debate

Varsity International Public Debate Association (IPDA) Division

• • Sawyer Partney (2nd-Year) – Octafinalist

Junior Varsity International Public Debate Association (IPDA) Division

• • Emmett Beeson (1st-year) – Octafinalist
  • Eric Rotert (2nd-Year) – Quarterfinalist
  • Jack Unsell (1st-year) – Semifinalist, 1^st Place Speaker
  • Lauren Weiss (2nd-Year) – Quarterfinalist

Novice International Public Debate Association (IPDA) Division

• • Jack Schroeder (2nd-Year) – Octafinalist

Team International Public Debate (TIPDA) Division

• • Mikayla Hammer (2nd-Year) – 3^rd Speaker

Varsity NFA Lincoln-Douglas Debate (NFA-LD) Division

• • Aiden Bresawitz (4th-year) – 2^nd Place Finalist (NFA Qualification)
  • Payten Luaders (3rd-Year) – 4^th Seed (NFA Qualification)
  • Payten Luaders (3rd-Year) – 2^nd Place Speaker

Junior Varsity NFA Lincoln-Douglas Debate (NFA-LD) Division

• • Nevaeh Carter (1st-year), Tessa Kremer (1st-year), and Ammi McHugh (1st-year) (NFA Qualification) – Co-Champions
  • Nevaeh Carter (1st-year) – 1^st Speaker
  • Tessa Kremer (1st-year) – 2^nd Speaker
  • Ammi McHugh (1st-year) – 5^th Speaker
  • Sawyer Partney (2nd-Year) – 6^th Speaker

Missouri Mule – Team Awards

Pentathlon

• • Briggs Maynor (4th-year) – 3^rd Place
  • Alex Peterson (4th-year) – 2^nd Place
  • Jack Unsell (1st-year) – 5^th Place

“The Jack Award” (for top performers who do both speech and debate)

• • Jack Unsell  (1st-year) – 2^nd Place

Team Sweepstakes

• • Debate – 1^st Place
  • Individual Events – 2^nd Place
  • Overall – 1^st Place
  • Top Pi Kappa Delta Member University

University of Central Missouri – Dale Carnegie Tournament Individual Events Division

• Willow Adamson (1st-year) – 5^th in After Dinner Speaking
• Willow Adamson (1st-year) – 4^th in Poetry Interpretation (AFA Qualification)
• Alyssa Frisbee (3rd-Year) – 3^rd in Dramatic Interpretation (NFA Qualification)
• Alyssa Frisbee (3rd-Year) – 7^th in Program Oral Interpretation
• Mikayla Hammer (2nd-Year) – 2^nd in Extemporaneous Speaking (NFA Qualification)
• Mikayla Hammer (2nd-Year) – 3^rd in Persuasion (NFA Qualification)
• Briggs Maynor (4th-year) and Jessie Philips (4th-year) – 1^st in Duo Interpretation (AFA Qualification)
• Briggs Maynor (4th-year) – 2^nd in After Dinner Speaking (NFA Qualification)
• Briggs Maynor (4th-year) and Alex Peterson (4th-year) – 3^rd in Duo Interpretation
• Briggs Maynor (4th-year) – 4^th in Prose Interpretation (NFA Qualification)
• Briggs Maynor (4th-year) – 5^th in Rhetorical Criticism
• Emery McEvoy (2nd-year) – 1^st in Impromptu Speaking
• Emery McEvoy (2nd-year) –  1^st in Rhetorical Criticism
• Emery McEvoy (2nd-year) – 5^th in Informative Speaking (NFA Qualification)
• Ashton Mullen (3rd-Year) – 3^rd in Informative Speaking
• Annie Nguyen (1st-year) – 1^st in Informative Speaking (AFA Qualification)
• Annie Nguyen (1st-year) – 2^nd in Persuasion (AFA Qualification)
• Sawyer Partney (2nd-Year) – 6^th in Informative Speaking (NFA Qualification)
• Sawyer Partney (2nd-Year) – Semifinalist in Impromptu Speaking
• Alex Peterson (4th-year) – 4^th in After Dinner Speaking
• Alex Peterson (4th-year) – 4^th in Informative Speaking
• Cooper Spacil (2nd-Year) – 1^st in After Dinner Speaking (AFA Qualification)
• Cooper Spacil (2nd-Year) – 5^th in Extemporaneous Speaking
• Jack Unsell (1st-year) – 3^rd in Rhetorical Criticism (NFA Qualification)
• Jack Unsell (1st-year) – 5^th in Interviewing
• Jack Unsell (1st-year) – 6^th in Prose Interpretation (NFA Qualification)
• Lauren Weiss (2nd-Year) – 3^rd in After Dinner Speaking
• Lauren Weiss (2nd-Year) – Semifinalist in Impromptu Speaking

University of Central Missouri – Dale Carnegie Tournament Debate Division

Varsity NFA Lincoln-Douglas Debate (NFA-LD) Division

• • Payten Luaders (3rd-Year) – 4^th Speaker

Junior NFA Lincoln-Douglas Debate (NFA-LD) Division

• • Emmett Beeson (1st-year) – Semifinalist
  • Emmett Beeson (1st-year) – 3^rd Speaker
  • Nevaeh Carter (1st-year) – Quarterfinalist
  • Nevaeh Cater (1st-year) – 5^th Speaker
  • Tessa Kremer (1st-year) – Semifinalist
  • Tessa Kremer (1st-year) – 2^nd Speaker
  • Ammi McHugh (1st-year) – Quarterfinalist
  • Ammi McHugh (1st-year) – 6^th Speaker

University of Central Missouri – Dale Carnegie Tournament Team Awards

Pentathlon

• • Briggs Maynor (4th-year) – 2^nd Place
  • Emery McEvoy (2nd-Year) – 3^rd Place
  • Alex Peterson (4th-year) – 4^th Place

Team Sweepstakes

• • Debate – 1^st Place
  • Individual Events – 1^st Place
  • Overall – 1^st Place
  • Combined Swing Sweepstakes – 1^st Place