John R. Park Debate Society Hosts Spring Season Opener
The John R. Park Debate Society opened its Spring 2023 competitive season at home by hosting the Great Salt Lake Invitational and the UTEP Classic with tournament cohosts, the University of Texas-El Paso. The "swing" tournament allows schools attending to compete in two tournaments on the same weekend, doubling opportunities for students. At the tournament, the team kicked off the Spring season with a strong competitive showing, including 25 final-round appearances across 2 days of competition, with 100% of competing University of Utah students winning at least one award. Additionally, junior Meredith Jenkins won the prestigious Royal R. Garff Individual Events Sweepstakes award and Sophomore Madeleine Felix won the Richard Rieke Top Speaker in NPDA award. Although every team member enjoyed individual success, host institutions are not eligible to win team sweepstakes awards. The team will look to build on this strong start to the Spring season on January 27-29 at the Jannese Davidson Memorial Tournament at Concordia University-Irvine.
COMPLETE RESULTS
Overall (Sweepstakes) Awards:
- Meredith Jenkins – Royal R. Garff Individual Events Sweepstakes winner
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Madeleine Felix – Richard Rieke NPDA Top Speaker
Debate Awards
Great Salt Lake:
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1st place NPDA Speaker – Madeleine Felix
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2nd Place NPDA – Madeleine Felix and Merrin Maughan
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2nd Place NPDA Speaker – Ryan Knippel
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3rd Place NPDA – Ryan Knippel and Javier Tejeda
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3rd place NPDA Speaker – Merrin Maughan
Individual Event Awards:
Great Salt Lake Invitational:
- 1st Place After Dinner Speaking – Ryan Knippel
- 1st Place Dramatic Interpretation – Javier Tejeda
- 1st Place Persuasive Speaking – Meredith Jenkins
- 1st Place Extemporaneous Speaking – Ryan Knippel
- 2nd Place Extemporaneous Speaking – Meredith Jenkins
- 2nd Place Impromptu Speaking – Meredith Jenkins
- 2nd Place Persuasive Speaking – Adelyn Kobe
- 2nd Place Duet – Javier Tejeda and Willow Wilson
- 2nd Place Program Oral Interpretation – Meredith Jenkins
- 2nd Place Communication Analysis – Willow Wilson
- 3rd Place Extemporaneous Speaking – Madeleine Felix
- 3rd Place Informative Speaking – Merrin Maughan
- 4th Place Persuasive Speaking – Merrin Maughan
- 4th Place Informative Speaking – Adelyn Kobe
- 4th Place Poetry – Willow Wilson
- 5th Place Informative Speaking – Meredith Jenkins
- 5th Place Poetry – Javier Tejeda
- 6th Place Impromptu Speaking – Adelyn Kobe
Great Salt Lake Invitational:
- 1st Place After Dinner Speaking – Ryan Knippel
- 1st Place Dramatic Interpretation – Javier Tejeda