The University of Texas at Dallas debate and speech and forensics teams competed in national championship tournaments this spring.
The debate team qualified for the National Debate Tournament for the 22nd consecutive year. Only 78 teams qualify for the tournament each year.
“The National Debate Tournament is the longest running and the most prestigious of the national tournaments for debate,” said Scott Herndon, director of debate at UTD.
Two pairs of Comet competitors — history junior Adrian Sendejas and healthcare management senior Mahintha Karthik, and business administration senior Ari Karchmer and economics junior Rahul Penumetcha — both finished 4-4 at the event, held at Emory University in April. While they did not advance beyond the preliminary rounds, the students debated well and will return to the team next academic year, Herndon said.
Another team comprising political science senior Storm Lasseter and molecular biology graduate Hasan Mubarak BS’24 finished in the top 16 at the Cross Examination Debate Association (CEDA) national tournament at California State University, Fullerton in March.
Mubarak was named to the CEDA All-American Debate Team; Lasseter was recognized in the top 20 individual speakers; and UTD finished second in its region for overall points.
The speech and forensics team competed in the National Speech Tournament, which was held at University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in April. From left: coach Dr. John C. Gooch, and students Sneha Elangovan, Pranav Kumar, Arlin Khan BS’24, Alexander De Jesus-Colon and Margaret Belford.
Meanwhile, a UTD-record five members of the speech and forensics team competed in the National Speech Tournament, which was held at University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in April.
International political economy senior Margaret Belford, information technology and systems senior Alexander De Jesus-Colon, computer science senior Sneha Elangovan, history and neuroscience graduate Arlin Khan BS’24, and biology senior Pranav Kumar represented UTD. Belford and De Jesus-Colon qualified for three events each, another first for UTD.
Dr. John C. Gooch, the team’s coach and associate professor of rhetoric and communication studies, hopes the speech and forensics squad, which began at UTD only six years ago, continues to grow.
“I feel proud of these students, and I can’t stress that enough,” he said. “They are a wonderful group with whom to work.”
This is a truncated version of an article that originally appeared in the UT Dallas News Center.