Published on February 7, 2024 by Lee Quinn   Share this on:

Junior Mary Grace Hammond (left) and senior Madison Hackett (right) win first place at the University of Texas at Austin tournament on Feb. 3-5.

The Samford University debate team won the University of Texas at Austin Tournament this past weekend. Junior Mary Grace Hammond and senior Madison Hackett won junior varsity, making this their second tournament win this semester. The team placed first at the Indiana Tournament two weeks ago. They defeated Michigan, Kansas, Wayne State and George Mason universities. 

Junior TJ Riggs and Senior Joey Tarnowski advanced to the triple-finals of the tournament in Varsity Division. They defeated Vanderbilt, Georgetown, Dartmouth and Kansas State. Senior Grace Blackwell and sophomore Ella Ford defeated teams from Cal State Fullerton, Kansas State and the University of Texas-Dallas in the Varsity Division. Senior Sarah Chew and junior Grace Scott scored victories against University of Southern California and Oklahoma in the Varsity Division.

Ryan Galloway, the executive director of debate, said “We win as a team. Every debater played a vital role this weekend. I was especially impressed by our debaters Laurel Pack, who was assisting with the team even after presenting a paper at a conference this weekend, as well as Aaron Gill who was willing to go the extra mile and assist other teams after he had completed his debates.”

“This was our third tournament championship of this year," Director of Debate Lee Quinn, said. "We won Wayne State, Indiana, and now UT Austin. We aim to maintain this momentum and bring home a second National Championship for Samford in a few weeks. Our goal every year is always to be the best debate program in the country.”