Macken Debate and Speech Team Breaks the Records

Saint Mary’s Macken Debate & Speech Team has had its most successful National Parliamentary Debate Association (NPDA) National Tournament in College history. The team began the competition with high expectations on Friday, March 15, at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. But it could never have expected this level of success: After three days of competitive debate, Debate Team members forged three new College records: Top 16, Debate Team; #10, Tournament Sweepstakes; and #18 Season-Long Sweepstakes. 

Familiar faces shined again. Seniors Marielle Gardner and Maya Szafraniec made it to the Sweet 16, besting their top 32 finish last year and setting a new College record. Gardner/Szafraniec completed the preliminary round of the tournament with a record of five wins and three losses, qualifying to the elimination rounds. 

In the first elimination round, Gardner/Szafraniec were placed against a familiar team, University of Utah team FP, which they faced off against in the finals of the Robert Barbera Invitational at CSU Northridge last fall. On a 3–0 decision, Gardner/Szafraniec advanced to the round of 32, demonstrating significant growth and illustrating what they had learned from their previous meeting. In the round of 32, Gardner/Szafraniec debated the sixth seed, University of Notre Dame team PD, which previously defeated them in round three of the 2018 NPDA National Tournament. This time, things were different. Gardner/Szafraniec won the debate on a 2–1 decision and advanced to the Sweet 16.

Paired against Concordia University, Irvine, in the Sweet 16, Gardner/Szafraniec fell on a 4–1 decision. The debate hinged on one argument, with three judges agreeing with Concordia, which was knocked out in the Elite 8; the fourth believed the debate centered elsewhere. This was a tough loss for the team members, as they were favored over Concordia, but they took it in stride. Had they advanced to the Elite 8, Gardner/Szafraniec would have debated Lewis & Clark University, which was expected to be an exceptionally close debate. Additionally, this is the fifth time in five years that the Macken Debate & Speech team has had competitors in the elimination rounds of a national tournament in parliamentary debate. 

For the first time in College history, the Macken Debate & Speech Team brought home a top 10 Tournament Sweepstakes Award. As it took every member of the program working together to successfully achieve the 10th place finish, this award was the perfect way to celebrate the team’s season-long commitment, right down to the newcomers. The Tournament Sweepstakes Award is determined through a mathematical formula based on the amount of wins for the best four teams from each institution at the tournament. The four teams who contributed to this award were Gardner/Szafraniec, Isabel Jeronimo ’20/Luke Perez ’19, Ojaswi Sharma ’22/Kathryn Magee ’21, and Joshua Moore ’20/Barbra Altawil ’22.

The third record-breaking performance came in the form of the 18th Place Season-Long Sweepstakes Award (out of 153 schools). This is the first time Saint Mary’s has received a Season-Long Sweepstakes Award from the NPDA National Tournament. Season-Long Sweepstakes are calculated similarly to the Tournament Sweepstakes Award but take into account the season. An alternative mathematical formula is implemented to calculate rankings of each individual school based on the success of as many as four teams per tournament for up to four tournaments. Generally, teams plan their travel schedule so they can win this award, but our members achieved this award through sheer will despite traveling on an extremely difficult schedule. The students who contributed to this award are: Gardner, Szafraniec, Jeronimo, Perez, Sharma, Magee, Moore, Altawil, Rita Anderson ’20, and Brett Austin ’22.

The team’s Open-level competitors were not the only individuals to receive accolades for their tournament performance.  After going to only three tournaments this season, Moore received the Fourth Place Speaker for Novice Speakers.  As “true novices,” meaning they had no debate experience prior to this season, Moore and his partner debated against the same field as the Open competitors, even though they may have had significantly less experience than their opponents.

As with any Nationals, this tournament was extremely difficult. In addition to Gardner/Szafraniec’s success, both Jeronimo/Perez and Sharma/Magee ended the tournament with four wins and four losses. Jeronimo/Perez were still in contention for elimination rounds in the final round but lost their last two debates, preventing them from advancing. Moore/Altawil were one win away from advancing to Novice elimination rounds, and Anderson/Austin were just out of reach, as well.

Besides the students, it would have been impossible for the team to achieve these results without an amazing support system. The coaching staff of myself (director of forensics); Assistant Coach Andrea Adams; Christopher M. Miles; and Deven Cooper all contributed to the team’s success. 

Special recognition is due to Miles and Cooper. Miles works with our program as a part-time coach while awaiting his opportunity to attend Saint Mary’s master’s program in Intercultural Communication. He is recognized nationwide for his knowledge of critical literature, understanding of domestic and foreign policy, technical skills, and dedication to the activity. Miles was an integral part of our success with Gardner/Szafraniec last year at NPDA, and he agreed to return this year to help Saint Mary’s go the distance. Prior to his program’s being cut as a senior, Miles and his partner, Michael Smith (who previously worked with our program), were #7 in the nation. 

Cooper is the director of Debate at CSU Long Beach and agreed to work with SMC at NPDA to gain experience in the format. He is an unparalleled coach whose background is in CEDA/Policy Debate, and he has previously coached the Top Speaker at the Cross Examination Debate Association (CEDA) National Tournament.  As a competitor, Cooper won the CEDA National Tournament as a junior and took second place as a senior. His experience and contributions were a vital part of SMC’s success this year.