Belmont Abbey Debate Competes at Pi Kappa Delta National Comprehensive Online Tournament
The Belmont Abbey Debate Team most recently competed at the Pi Kappa Delta National Comprehensive Tournament. While our main national competition will occur April 9-11 for IPDA Nationals, three of our students also participated in the virtual PKD format. The tournament welcomed approximately 270 debate students from across the country, and featured several state university teams.
In IPDA, Paloma Shrauder competed in the junior varsity division for the first time, winning three out of five preliminary ballots. The tie for advancement to elimination rounds was broken by speaking points, for which Paloma averaged 33 out of 40. In varsity, Blake Traylor earned two ballots, missing advancement in the tournament by one round. Nonetheless, Blake excelled with an average speaking score of 36.6 out of 40.
Freshman Kayleigh Guffey also competed in Lincoln Douglas Debate. As a first-year student, Kayleigh competed against students with far more experience and averaged 26.3 out of 30 speaking points for rounds she attended.
