Grove City College debaters won two national championships over the weekend of March 20 in one of the world’s premier forensic events – Pi Kappa Delta’s 2021 National Comprehensive Tournament.
The three days of competition were grueling, but yielded triumphs, coach Jason R. Edwards, professor of History, said.
Senior Debate Team captain Tegan Truitt ’21 was named the top speaker in the varsity NPDA debate bracket and freshman Eden Kleiman ’24 won the novice IPDA division during the tournament organized by the international forensics honorary Pi Kappa Delta (PKD). The team bunkered down in Carnegie Alumni Center and the Hall of Arts and Letters on campus to debate their collegiate rivals virtually, since the pandemic put a halt to most in-person forensics events.
GCC debaters knocked on the door of another championship during the invitational, with freshmen Brayden Peppo ’24 and Estan Sutter ’24 making it to the final round and securing second place. Senior Jonathan Skee ’21 earned an excellence award in varsity IPDA. Senior captain Susannah Barnes ’21 and sophomore Sebastian Anastasi ’23 made it to the playoff rounds in their respective divisions.
“The pattern of success particularly from the novices speaks to the tremendous leadership of our two senior captains Tegan Truitt and Susannah Barnes,” Edwards said, also noting the assistance of Dr. Andrew J. Harvey, professor of English, and Dr. Michael L. Coulter, professor of Political Science, in prepping debaters. “The successes were a true team accomplishment … and, thankfully, a continuation of GCC’s great tradition,” he said.
The Debate Team is looking to follow up on its PKD success and likely conclude their season with this week’s National Christian College Forensic Invitational.