By Mike Greife,
September 29, 2015
WARRENSBURG, MO – The University of Central Missouri Talking Mules speech and debate
team traveled to the Debates on a Plain Speech and Debate Tournament, at Hutchinson
County Community College, Hutchinson, Kan., Sept. 26-27 to open the 2015-16 tournament
season for the Talking Mules.
Seventeen colleges and universities from across Missouri, Kansas Texas, Oklahoma and
Nebraska competed in the season’s unofficial opener.
“We refer to this entry as ‘unofficial opening’ because only a few key members from
the team made the trip,” said Jack Rogers, director of forensics. “They were testing
the competitive waters for us.” The first full tournament for the Talking Mules will
be this coming weekend Oct. 2-3 at Southwest Baptist University with our largest competitive
UCM squad in 15 years.
Senior Samantha Begley took first place in both halves of the swing tournament, winning
the Lincoln-Douglas division. Senior Tyler Slinkard finished as a quarter-finalist
in the first half and placed second in the last half. Newcomer Sam Eames finished
as a semi-finalist in the first half and a quarter-finalist in the second.
Begley emerged as the Overall Top Speaker for the tournament. The Mules finished with
a first place Debate Sweepstakes trophy and a second place Overall Sweeps Swing Debate
trophy with an entry of only three debaters in a single debate division.
“What a great start to our year!” said Begley, team captain. “We couldn’t be happier
with the results. We are especially proud of Sam Eames, our newbie in his first tournament!
“The results reflect hard work, determination, and a lot of skill and teamwork,” said
Kiefer Storrer, graduate assistant coach for the Talking Mules.
In individual events competition, Senior Tagan Trahoon finished as a semi-finalist
in prose and fourth place in dramatic interpretation. Senior Johanna Kelly finished
in third place in communication analysis. They added enough points that the team combined
to take third place in overall tournament Sweeps with an entry of just five debaters.
