Clemson team wins awards at National Educational Debate Association tournament

Published: November 15, 2012

Members of the Clemson debate team are (front row, from left) Austin Cope, Kayla Gooding, Jenny Tumas, Gabby Norris, Arjun Aggarwal, Kaela Kennington Spencer Riehl, Scott Porter and Nicholes Frederick; (back row, from left) Dennison LaRue, Brian Young and Cameron Eagles. image by: Clemson University

By Kelly Borglum

CLEMSON — Clemson University’s debate team won the overall team sweepstakes and its members won first place in novice and varsity competitions at the National Educational Debate Association tournament in Anderson, Ind.

Three teams from Clemson participated in the open competition, while three competed in the novice category.

First-place varsity award winners were Scott Porter, a freshman secondary education major from Colchester, Vt.; and Nicholas Frederick, a freshman communication studies major from Charleston. Frederick and Porter also received first- and sixth-place awards as varsity speakers, respectively.

Cameron Eagles, a senior economics major from Orlando, Fla., won second place among varsity speakers as well as second place in varsity team awards alongside teammate Jenny Tumas, a junior political science and communication studies major from Los Alamos, N.M.

Bryan Young, a freshman political science major at Tri-County Technical College and native of El Paso, Texas, and Kayla Gooding, a sophomore political science major from Clarksville, Tenn. took home fifth place for varsity team awards. Gooding also was awarded seventh place among varsity speakers.

First-place novice award-winners Arjun Aggarwal and Kaela Kennington also received first and third place, respectively, for novice speakers. Aggarwal is a freshman biology major from Lexington and Kennington is a freshman political science major from Chester, N.J.

Second-place novice award winners were Dennison LaRue, a freshman pre-professional health studies major from New Orleans, and Austin Cope, a freshman communication studies major from Williston, Cope was also awarded fifth place for novice speakers.

Gabrielle Norris, a sophomore production studies in performing arts major from Travelers Rest, and Spencer Riehl, a freshman sociology major from Aiken, were awarded third place for novice speakers.

Lindsey C. Dixon, the director of forensics and a lecturer in communications studies at Clemson, coached the team.

“As a coach, I couldn’t ask for a better group of students to work with,” said Dixon. “Through their determination and work ethic they were able to make Clemson University Debate Team a force to reckoned with.”

Along with Clemson, five universities from across the Midwest, South and Northeast competed, including Ball State, Anderson, Dayton, Capital and Duquesne. The Judge Harold E. Achor tournament, which marks the beginning of the debate season, was hosted by Anderson (Ind.) University.

The Clemson University debate team is sponsored by the communication studies department.

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