UARK Speech and Debate Team Wins Big

Hannah Morris

The U of A Speech and Debate Team with 12 of their 13 awards.

This past weekend, the U of A Speech and Debate Team, composed of Megan Dial, Jaci Sabatini, Daisy Rehbock, Max Green, Edward Onisei, Luke Hubbard, Stassja Campbell, James Jovicich and Jack VanDyke, saw great success at their first National Championship Tournament as a team. Those successes are as follows:

• 100 percent advance rate for TIPDA (all three U of A teams advanced to outrounds).

• 72 percent advance rate for individual IPDA (five of seven U of A students advanced to outrounds).

• The team of Hubbard and Onisei was ranked 12th in the country going into outrounds for TIPDA, having gone 4-1.

• The team of Dial and Sabatini was ranked 20th in the country going into outrounds for TIPDA.

• The team of Green and Rehbock was ranked 31st in the country going into outrounds for TIPDA.

• Megan Dial and Edward Onisei were triple octofinalists, marking a top 50 placement out of more than 450 novice competitors during the season of 2021-22, as well as 106 novice competitors at the national tournament itself.

• Daisy Rehbock was a double octofinalist, marking a top 32 novice placement.

• Max Green was a double octofinalist, marking a top 32 junior varsity placement. Green also was ranked ninth best speaker in the country at the national tournament.

• Luke Hubbard was an octofinalist, marking a top 16 finish and making him the highest-ranked novice from the U of A's team, as well as a top 16 novice in the country.

The team also brought back the coveted Overall Sweepstakes Champion cup for the state of Arkansas, marking a first place finish out of all Arkansas colleges and universities. Coach Hannah Morris was nominated for the Bennett Strange National Coach of the Year Award as well as nominated for the Governing Board of the IPDA. In total, the team brought back 13 awards.

If you are interested in joining the U of A Speech and Debate Team, contact arkansasforensics@gmail.com or hannahm@uark.edu.