STERLING — Between regular competition tournaments, hosting an out-of-state tournament, hosting a Kansas State Fair event and publishing a speech, the Sterling College Debate & Forensics team under coach Ken Troyer has posted a busy fall season. 

The fall started in early September with the team hosting the annual Kansas State Fair Debate Exhibition. About 200 high school students attended the event which included an exhibition of this year’s high school debate topic demonstrated by four area high school teams. 

The Sterling College team competed at the University of Central Missouri tournament in mid-October. Sterling senior Aubrie Powell from Colorado Springs finished with a record of four wins and two losses in the Novice division of International Parliamentary Debate. She earned 9th place overall and advanced to the octa-final round.  

In the same tournament, sophomore from Hutchinson, Bailey Brewer finished with five wins -one loss record and advanced through the octa-final round by defeating Illinois State University before dropping a split decision in the quarterfinal round to Louisiana State University. She finished in 5th place overall.  

Chandler Reiman, freshman from Kinsley, also competed in his first collegiate tournament that weekend. In addition to Sterling, these schools attended: Webster University, Washburn University, University of Nebraska, Trumans State University, Texas Tech University, Texas State University, Southwest Baptist University, SE Missouri State University, Simpson College, Park University, Ottawa University, Missouri Valley College, Louisiana State University, Lee College, Kansas City Community College, Illinois State University, University of Illinois, Harding University, Dallas Baptist, Crowder University. 

The final weekend of October, the Sterling College Debate & Forensics Team hosted a debate/forensics tournament at Tulsa Community College. This was the first time the team had hosted a tournament out-of-state. It was called the Border Wars tournament and had 17 schools in attendance.

Senior Miquala Purscell, Hoisington, also became a “published” author this fall. Purscell is the Kansas representative at the Interstate Oratorical Association competition, which is the oldest intercollegiate speech competition in the United States. She is the 9th Sterling College student to have been published in their publication entitled “Winning Orations.” The publication was edited by Dr. Andrea Carlile of South Dakota State University. The tournament and publication have existed in various forms continuously since 1873.

Sterling College Debate and Forensics Coach Ken Troyer said, “Miquala worked hard for this recognition. Writing and memorizing a speech consisting of more than 1,500 words, and doing so verbatim, is extremely challenging. I am proud to be associated with her work and the continued legacy that so many previous Sterling orators have established.” 

The Sterling team will be heading to Manhattan later in November for the American Forensics Association District 3 National Qualifying tournament – hosted by K State. The team is also slated to compete at the Christmas Classic Tournament in December hosted by Cameron University in Lawton, Okla.