PLU Lutes continue on the road to national debate tournament

Angie Tinker ’16 and Matt Aust ’17 dominated the 2016 Pacific University Debate Tournament on January 31, earning speaker awards and finishing as semi-finalists.

After five preliminary rounds, Aust and Tinker were ranked fourth and finished as semi-finalists. Additionally, Tinker received an award for being the third best speaker at the tournament. Aust also received a speaker award, ranking fifth.

“I’m incredibly impressed with the quality of competition. At every tournament, the entire region gets better, and I’m so happy to help make sure PLU keeps its place as a regional powerhouse,” said Tinker.

The PLU Speech and Debate team competed against eight other schools this weekend. Aust and Tinker competed against a large pool of 72 speakers for their respective speaker awards.

“This was a great start to our semester, with one of our top teams making it to elimination rounds and earning individual speaker awards,” Assistant Director of Forensics, Calvin Horne said, “I’m very pleased with the work the team has put in this month, and I anticipate great things as we progress toward the national tournament in April.”

The PLU Speech and Debate Team will continue its competitive season at Hatfield Debates in Salem, Oregon the last weekend in February.