Speech and debate team makes school history in tournament sweep

The Simpson College speech and debate team won the debate, speech and overall team sweepstakes championships at the Riverfest Tournament hosted by Park University held Oct. 8-9, sweeping all three categories at one tournament for the first time in school history. 

Simpson finished first out of seven schools and was recognized as the Top Pi Kappa Delta School. Simpson ran away from the competition in all three categories, beating the University of Central Missouri in both overall team points (371-108) and debate points (188-57) and beating North Central College in speech points (183-93).

The competition marked Simpson’s first in-person event since March 2020.

“It was so good to compete in-person again,” said Spencer Waugh, director of speech, debate and mock trial. “You could feel the energy and the excitement. The dynamics of the competition change when you are face-to-face. Competition over a computer screen just isn’t the same.”

First-year students Abby Fry and Ryan Corcoran defeated the University of Central Missouri 3-0 to win the Public Forum Debate division for the Storm. In the semifinals, sophomore Jenna Pfeiffer defeated her opponent from Park University 2-1 to set up a co-championship in IPDA Debate with senior Shelby McCasland. 

Simpson speech competitors claimed the top seven spots of the 13 individual events. Sophomore Mo Marks led the speech team with five individual top finishes. 

“This is a younger team, and they worked so hard to prepare for what really was the season opener for us,” Waugh said. “We certainly did not expect to win both categories of debate and sweep the speech events the way we did. Now we just need to keep practicing as we look toward the rest of the season.”

Full individual results are below. To learn more about Speech and Debate at Simpson College, visit simpson.edu/SpeechandDebate.

Riverfest Team Results

Champion, Overall Sweepstakes 
Champion, Debate Sweepstakes 
Champion, Individual Speech Event Sweepstakes
Top Pi Kappa Delta School

Riverfest Individual Results

About Simpson College
Simpson College is a private, liberal arts college located in Iowa with campuses in Indianola, West Des Moines and online. Founded in 1860, the college has 1,268 undergraduate and graduate students. Simpson offers 74 majors, minors and programs in addition to three graduate programs. Outside of the classroom, Simpson is a member of the NCAA Division III American Rivers Conference, hosts eight Greek houses on campus and sponsors many extracurricular options for student involvement.
 
Contact Information
Bryan Geelan, marketing communication director
Direct: 515-961-1608
Email: bryan.geelan@simpson.edu